Floyd Devroy was a chain-smoking redhead with an eye for quirky quick-to-sell products.
Mr. Devroy, of Wilmette, spent years slogging through sales lists for a number of companies and found success when he marketed the Headhugger, the first portable headphone radio. He later launched his own company that specialized in the type of products that carry “As-Seen-On-TV” tags.
Mr. Devroy, 74, died of heart and lung failure Thursday, April 7, in Brentwood North healthcare center in Riverwoods.
“He was a great salesman,” said his son and business partner Gary. “His personality was peppery, fiery, enthusiastic and optimistic. People absolutely loved him.”
Mr. Devroy, known as “Pinky” by friends and family, carved out his own niche in the innovative consumer product world by pushing items dubbed the car cozy, the mineral magnet and the sun zapper. “The Wal-Mart, Kmart, Walgreens kind of stuff,” his son said.
In the early 1970s, Mr. Devroy was vice president of sales and marketing for Triumph/General Time, his son said. He coordinated the sales push for the Headhugger, a first-of-its-kind portable headphone radio.
The success of the product prompted Mr. Devroy to go his own way, and in 1975 he started Intermark World Product Ltd. in Lake Bluff.
“He was good because he wasn’t just trying to make a buck,” his son said. “He had an interest in people and an eye for trends. In the end he ended up making a buck.”
Mr. Devroy discovered products at trade shows and worked out manufacturing, distribution and retail deals with their creators. Some of these items include the first inflatable airbed, rotating car-wash brush and split-saddle bike seat.
The company currently markets four marquee products: a solar-powered ventilator that rids cars of stuffy, smelly air; a heated travel blanket that plugs into a car lighter; a magnet that clamps onto household pipes and furnaces and rids them of built-up sediment and calcium; and a glare shield that attaches to car visors.
Mr. Devroy grew up in Michigan and earned the nickname “Pinky” at birth when the doctor remarked that he was extremely pinkish, his son said. He ran away from home at age 13 and lived above a horse stable and worked at a hunting club for many years before earning his high school equivalency degree.
“He trained to be a jockey and wanted a career in horse-racing,” said his wife, Marlene. “He traveled the horse circuit for a while. Once he joined the military, it opened his eyes.”
Mr. Devroy served in the Air Force’s 49th Air Division as an intelligence operations specialist and was stationed at Sculthorpe Air Force Base in England.
He met his wife on a blind date set up by friends in 1955.
“The night we met, he told me I was going to be his wife,” she said. “We were married six months later.”
He chain-smoked Lucky Strike cigarettes and would not take any guff, his son said.
In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Devroy is survived by sons Michael and Jeffrey; a daughter, Susan; and five grandchildren.
A memorial will be held May 14 at Gillson Park in Wilmette.
