Moving Metal

are to get anywhere in the business we must carry more diver- sified stocks of steel.” All of these things required capital, but the shareholders—Neilan included—decided that bringing in any outside investor was out of the question. “We will have to rely on bank credit, trade credit, and retention of profit,” he concluded. The warehouse issue was particularly difficult. Neilan was eyeing Allied Supply’s floor space in their shared building. Allied Supply had been a welcomed co-tenant since the early 1940s, but Neilan now saw it more as an unwelcome guest. Accordingly, he approached Allied Supply’s president, Gilbert Nesheim, and asked if the company could be induced to move so that Reliance could take over its floor and office space. Nesheim’s response was an indignant “No!” Roe was content to accept that as a final answer, suggesting instead that Reliance buy land and build another warehouse. Neilan reminded him that Reliance did not have the money to do so, and redoubled his efforts to push Allied Supply out. Nesheim was stubborn— not until early 1950 did Allied Supply vacate the building. THE SECOND GENERATION While struggling to get more steel and more warehouse space, and to keep the company financially afloat, Neilan started thinking about his retirement and the second gener- ation of leadership for Reliance. He had turned sixty in May 1947, and would be eligible to retire in only two short years. Vice President Jack Roe was still young at forty-four years, but Neilan had not groomed him for the top job. Apparently, he had decided to keep the business in the family—through his niece, Florence A. Gimbel Neilan. Florence was born on June 25, 1914, to William Balzer Gimbel and May Neilan Gimbel. Florence’s mother was Tom

No stranger to machinery—Tom Neilan’s nephew and successor at Reliance, Bill Gimbel, as a young man.

Neilan’s sister, and the Neilan and Gimbel families shared the same Irish Alley household in San Francisco around 1910. Florence had a younger brother named William T. “Bill” Gimbel, who was born on November 24, 1918. Florence and Bill’s early childhood had not been happy. Their parents separated in the 1920s. Bill’s father took custody of him,

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