William Oberheide, co-owner of G&O Thermal Supply, Chicago, died on Sunday, Nov. 20, from pancreatic cancer, according to a story in the Nov. 26Chicago Tribune.

He was born in Chicago in 1937. Oberheide left the family coil and oil business in 1968 to found G&O Thermal with his friend Ronald Gottfred. G&O started as a storefront operation in Chicago and has grown to five locations in the Chicago area and Milwaukee. In the 1980s, Oberheide and the heads of 11 other companies founded the wholesale buying group now known as Controls Group North America, according to the Tribune.

G&O Thermal joined the former Northamerican Heating, Refrigeration & Airconditioning Wholesalers (NHRAW) in 1974 and the former Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Wholesalers International (ARWI) in 1978. The two organizations have since formed into the Heating, Airconditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI). Oberheide was a trustee of NHRAW and a regional chairman for ARWI. He retired from the industry in 2001.

Publication date: 12/05/2005