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Aaron & Co. co-owner lauded for character and forward-thinking business practices.
In life sometimes things just click. That was exactly the case with Aaron & Co. co-owners Barry Portnoy and Richard Laudino.
Portnoy recently reflected on his partner, who died in early February after a year-plus-long battle with cancer at the age of 62. Laudino, his brother, Frank Jr., and Portnoy represent the second generation of family ownership at the Piscataway, N.J.-based distributor.
"We were different people, but we really got along," Portnoy told Supply House Times. "We were true co-managers and it worked. Everything clicked. We could do the good cop-bad cop better than anybody and then flip in the middle of the meeting and nobody would know. Everybody can't be the same. There is a yin and a yang. I'm more of a crazy guy and Richard was more private and proud, but he let me be me. Richard was a really good man....