George Brazil dies at age 83
Plumbing contractor George Brazil, founder of George Brazil Home Services in Phoenix, died May 16 after a long illness. He was 83.
Plumbing contractor George Brazil, founder of George Brazil Home Services in Phoenix, died May 16 after a long illness. He was 83.
His company posted the following message on its Facebook page shortly after his death:
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“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the George Brazil family. This morning we lost a legend in the business and plumbing world, as well as a stand-up man.
“As many are aware, George Brazil fell ill earlier last year and has struggled with recovery since. To his last day, he held true to his commitment to his business and plumbing industry.
“We are saddened to lose our leader but are driven to hold true to the reputation and business integrity we were founded on, and will strive to make George proud as he watches over.”
Although he may be better known for the creation of the George Brazil truck to make his service plumbers more efficient on calls, Brazil was featured in a cover story last month in Plumbing & Mechanical magazine for a different sort of vehicle. His company has invested in a thermal airship to take its marketing message to the Phoenix sky.
Brazil also was a co-founder with plumbing contractor Frank Blau of the Contractors 2000 best practices group, which later was rebranded as Nexstar Network. Brazil started his plumbing company in 1955 in Santa Ana, Calif. Mike Diamond owns and operates all the George Brazil locations in Southern California today. The Phoenix branch opened in 1990. Brazil moved to Arizona from California in 2000.
George Brazil Home Services is on track to do $40 million in combined revenue for its plumbing, electrical and HVAC businesses in 2012 in the Phoenix area. The operations employ 65 service techs and run 150 service and installation trucks.
Arrangements for funeral services are pending.
