A tribute to James Meyer, our long-term friend and trusted PALight supplier t is with great sadness that we tell you that
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our dear friend, James Meyer has passed away. Earlier this year, we learned that he had taken ill and hoped and prayed for his recovery. Sadly, that wasn’t to be. In the business world of buying and selling, personal relationships sometimes get lost in favour of dickering over pricing and terms and shipping costs. James never allowed that to happen. He was one of the kindest and most giving people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. Several years ago, James made the decision to relocate to the UK from Sarasota, Florida for quite unselfish personal and family reasons. That changed the shipping process rather dramatically for customers in the US, and it could have been a very expensive, even cost prohibitive process. James didn’t allow that to happen. The transition was seamless and shipping costs from the UK were kept quite reasonable, making it so we didn’t have to increase pricing to our customers. It goes without saying that he must have seen a reduction in profits, but Mr Meyers wasn’t money oriented. He did what he did because he loved what he did and loved his customers as well. He will be sorely missed. The PAL Light, a simple 9 volt LED flashlight, was one of the very first LED flashlights to be offered. Back in 1997-98, we operated an online pilot shop offering items such as noise cancelling headphones and flight training materials to pilots. The PALights were the answer to pre-flight inspections and for eliminating the need for coloured filters for traditional flashlights in the cockpit. Before long, the PALight flashlights were out-selling other products, and thus, theLEDlight.com was born and LED product lines grown and expanded. I often look around the store and warehouse and think to myself … all of this from a simple flashlight? Nothing but Divine Providence can explain that. PALight fans may remember how the PALights came to be as they are today. A series of modifications included a change in the type of LED used and lenses. When James purchased the company, he well solidified all of that, keeping the product stable and practical while keeping the cost well under control. And that is why the PALight is the only product on our website today that remains from all of our original offerings. So what does the future hold? That is not known at present. We sold the last of our PALight inventory earlier this week. We hope that a family member may continue on in James’ honour and once again bring this reliable little product back to all of you who still love it so. We’ll keep you posted here, or you can feel free to email us if you’d like to be notified when we have further news. James, you are loved and missed.
By: Mary Wecker
