New Orleans entrepreneur David Oreck, a man unimpressed with a vacuum cleaner, so he made and sold his own, has passed away at the age of 99.
Oreck died at his Mississippi home after a brief illness.
In 1963, Oreck founded the New Orleans-based company that bore his name. Ultimately the Oreck Company became an international maker and distributor of the signature Oreck vacuum.
The lightweight and powerful Oreck XL vacuum became a staple of hotels for their efficiency and economical cost.
Oreck appeared in his own television commercials publicizing the vacuum and was also spokesperson for the Security Center, a private vault company, on Carondolet and Common Streets in the CBD.
According to the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate, Oreck learned to fly when he was 18 and later enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force serving as a navigator aboard a B-29 bomber in WWII. Oreck served in Pacific.
“He was a very proud American, a flag-waving, tearing up at the national anthem kind of American,” wife Jan Oreck told the paper. “He was very proud of his service in World War II.”
After the war, Oreck went to work with RCA and was tasked with taking over a troubled distributorship in New Orleans.
The distributorship also held the plans for a new type of vacuum cleaner which Oreck and his brother Marshal redesigned into the storied Oreck vacuum.
Oreck is survived by his wife Janet, his sons Thomas and Bruce, seven grandchildren and a great granddaughter.
