NRS Chairman Frank Walsh Dies at 62

Frank J. Walsh, long-time chairman of National Retail Systems, died on Feb. 25 of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 62.

Walsh took the trucking company started by his father in 1953 and built it into one of the most successful privately held third-party contract logistics companies to the retail industry in the world.

In the early days, Walsh Trucking operated a handful of trucks serving what was then the bustling New York City garment district, which supplied almost all of the merchandise sold in stores prospering in a burgeoning midtown Manhattan retail scene.

NRS has grown to the point where it is now comprised of 12 operating units, including a joint venture with China's largest logistics company Sinotrans. NRS moved more than 1 billion pounds of consumer products through its network last year.

As offshore sourcing took hold in Asia 25 years ago, Walsh led NRS as it established distribution operations on the West Coast next to the Port of Los Angeles. He built a national network of logistics assets to provide logistics services to leading U.S. retailers and consumer goods manufacturers.

In the late 80s, Walsh and NRS helped lead the way with other retailers in developing a new form of communication called Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). After the development of the Internet, Walsh and NRS developed some of the first Web-based logistics visibility and optimization tools in the industry.

Walsh is survived by his wife Donna, their three children and their eight grandchildren.