As a teenager in Plainview, Long Island, in the late 1950s, George M. Sherman cut a dashing figure with his pompadour. He bought his own pool cue and wielded it expertly to win money at local billiards halls.
Pool hustling provided seed capital for a small concrete-pouring and construction business he created to help pay for his education at Long Island University, where he majored in industrial management.
That led to a management career at General Electric Co., Emerson Electric Co. and Black & Decker Corp., where he revitalized the power-tool business in the late 1980s. Mr. Sherman got his chance to be chief executive of a large company when Danaher Corp., founded by brothers Steven and Mitchell Rales, recruited him in 1990.
Mr. Sherman focused what had been a motley group of manufacturing businesses into a more streamlined maker of environmental controls, Craftsman tools and other products. During his 11 years as CEO, Danaher’s market value soared to more than 20 times the 1990 level.
Mr. Sherman funded educational programs in Baltimore, exercised daily and was known for his high energy. “Relaxing with George was exhausting,” a close friend recalled. He died Aug. 17, at the age of 80, of complications from a brain injury suffered 14 months earlier when he fell after his daily Peloton-stationary-bike workout.
