MIAMI BEACH, FLA. -Sidney Olson, 85, one of the founders of Olson Electronics, a leading national CE chain in the 1950s and ’60s, died here late last month.
With his brothers Irving and Philip, Olson started a radio repair business in Akron, Ohio, in their father’s garage in the early 1930s. The project evolved into the Olson Radio Warehouse in Cleveland during the late 1940s and then became Olson Electronics-a chain that had more than 80 retail locations coast to coast at its height.
In 1968 the company was sold to Teledyne, and after a few years Olson and his wife Miriam retired to Miami Beach, where he began a life of philanthropy. Several years later he returned to run the operation, but in 1977, retired for good.
Sidney is survived by his daughter Arlene Olson and son Norman, three grandchildren and his brother Irving.
