Eight Bells: Frank Betz

Frank H. Betz, a financial and marine industry marketing executive, died recently at 85 years in Punta Gorda, FL. Born in Plainfield, NJ, he was a longtime resident of Westfield and Scotch Plains.

In 1966 he founded the Pocono Boathouse at Lake Naomi in Pennsylvania, which he built into a leading national dealership in small pleasure sailing craft. In 1971, he became one of the first ten dealers in the world involved with the sport of windsurfing, which he spent years promoting throughout the eastern U.S. and in the Caribbean.

Frank was also closely involved with national marketing activities of Hobie Catamarans and Sunfish sailboats, both of which were revolutionary products of their era and remain today among the most popular sailboats ever produced.

Frank was a retired senior vice president of Carret and Company, Inc., a New York investment counselling firm, and president of Force Four Marine Corporation in Cranford, NJ which since 1971 owned and operated the recreational landmark on the Rahway River known locally for decades as ‘The Canoe Club‘.

Previously, Frank had been president of Aloa Marine America, Inc., an importer of luxury sailing yachts build in France, and president of the Hydron Marine Laboratories division of National Patent Development Corporation following 17 years as a c commercial lending officer of Chemical Bank in New York City.

He was for years an active competitive sailor and successfully campaigned in Sunfish, Force Five, Duster, and Island’s 17 one-design classes, and cruised in the West Indies regularly since the 1960s, He was a member of the New York Yacht Club and the Hunterdon Sailing Club (NJ), a past commodore of the Lake Naomi Club Sailing Association, and a member of Mensa International.

Frank had a big heart and was always kind and generous. The stories about Frank are legendary, and for those on his email distribution list, you can rest now that Frank’s proliferation of not often PC correspondence will no longer get you fired (or worse).