Industry Mourns Loss of Albert Witt

PITTSBURGH — Albert Witt, who operated Pittsburgh’s oldest pest control company, has died. He was 93.

Witt helped run Witt Pest Management, a company founded by his father, Harry L. Witt, in 1908. (Read more about the company, including a timeline of its first 100 years, here.) Albert’s son Tom and his grandson Adam now run the company, which celebrates its centennial this year.

“There’s no question,” Tom Witt said. “Him making it that long and living to that anniversary was very important to him.”

Witt, who lived in Boca Raton, Fla., never officially retired from the company his father started, and kept an office at the Pittsburgh headquarters.

“He kept in touch, never retired and stayed involved in the business,” Tom Witt said. “He was my mentor, he was my confidant, he was my father, but most of all, he was my friend.”

Albert Witt had suffered from health problems, including several cancers and a major stroke 22 years ago that left him completely paralyzed on his right side. But he came back to work, continued to play golf and taught himself to write with his left hand.

Witt Pest Management grew from the door-to-door sales efforts of Harry Witt in the early 1900s. He formulated his own roach powder — branded “Witt’s Tested” — and started applying it at accounts in Pittsburgh.

That effort eventually grew into three companies covering western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and northern West Virginia: Witt Pest Management, WatchGard Systems, which serves the food safety and sanitation industries, and DynaTech, a commercial contract cleaning business.

“Our company really has developed a lot through my father’s efforts in the past,” said Tom Witt, president of all three companies.

“It all comes back to here and the family business,” said Adam Witt, vice president and general manager of Witt Pest Management. “We were very close knit family. We cared very much for each other.”

Albert Witt served as a 1st lieutenant in the Army in World War II, and was a member of Temple Sinai Congregation, the National Pest Management Association and the International Sanitary Supply Association. He also was one of five founders of Pro-Link, a national janitorial supply organization established in 1984, with more than 70 members and more than 100 distribution points throughout the United States.

Survivors are his daughter, Wendy Goldberg, of Boca Raton, and his son, Tom Witt (Shelda), of Pittsburgh; a sister, Miriam Schoen, of Boca Raton; four grandchildren, Josh Roberts (Katey), Jamie Samrick Hecht (Darin), Adam Witt, and Anney Witt; and three great grandchildren.

Contributions may be made to Hospice of Palm Beach County, 5300 East Avenue, West Palm Beach., FL 33407 or a charity of the donor's choice.