Alfred Fuller
Alfred Carl Fuller was a Canada-born American businessman who was the original "Fuller Brush Man."Biography
Fuller was born on an Annapolis Valley farm in Welsford, Kings County, Nova Scotia. He moved to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1903 at the age of 18 to live with his sister. He went to work for the Somerville Brush and Mop Company, and became a successful salesman for them. In 1906, with a $75 investment, he started the Fuller Brush Company in Hartford, Connecticut, selling brushes door to door. By 1919, the company had achieved sales of more than $1 million per year.
Fuller Brush went on to be recognized throughout North America, even inspiring two comedy films, The Fuller Brush Man and The Fuller Brush Girl. In 1961, Fuller recorded the secrets to his success on Folkways Records on an album entitled, Careers in Selling: An Interview with Alfred C. Fuller. The company remained in the Fuller family's hands until 1968, when it was acquired by Sara Lee Corporation.
Fuller died in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1973 and is buried at Pleasant Valley Cemetery in Somerset, Nova Scotia.Personal life
Fuller divorced his wife Evelyn in 1930. He married Mary Pelton in 1932. Fuller maintained a lifelong connection with his native Nova Scotia, buying a home in Yarmouth, where he and his family spent their summers. In 1996, his widow donated the house, at 20 Collins Street, to the Yarmouth County Museum where it has been restored and is open to the public.
Fuller was initiated to the York Rite of Freemasonry, till his elevation to the highest degree of Grand Master. He was a major supporter of what is now The Hartt School, University of Hartford. The Fuller Center was built in 1963 on the college campus.
