Andy Pansini, the former president/CEO of Jandy who ushered the company into a new era with its product expansions and eventual sale, passed away suddenly on April 12. He was 76.
The son of Jandy founder and inventor Andrew L. Pansini, he also managed a family real-estate business and wrote two books.
Andrew A. Pansini was born in San Francisco Oct. 30, 1948 and grew up in nearby Marin County. A businessperson at heart, he received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of San Francisco.
He joined Jandy in the early 1970s, and headed it from the late 1980s to 1996, while it was still its own company. Under his father’s watch, the company had focused on selling the automatic pool cleaner he is known for inventing. When the second generation Pansini took over, he had a different vision, expanding its product offerings to include waterfalls, valves, and the control system that has become one of its anchor products.
“He grew the portfolio, widened it,” says Dave Nibler, vice president and general manager of Fluidra’s Commercial Pool division.
Upon retiring, Pansini made another foundational change in the company, selling it to heater manufacturer Teledyne Lars. This lead to other acquisitions before Jandy became a flagship brand of Fluidra North America.
Pansini was known as a solid behind-the-scenes complement to Vance Gillette, the company’s charismatic vice president of business development who served as the face of Jandy and its subsequent acquirers.
“It was a very good combination,” Nibler says. “Vance was an extroverted sales/marketing guy. He’s out driving sales and marketing — and being Vance. Andy was very much a finance/business guy, running the business financially.”
In addition to running Jandy, Pansini headed Savoy Corporation, a real-estate company also started by his family. He memorialized his family with the books, “Fathers of Invention” in 2017 and “A Family of Invention” in 2020.
“He and Vance were really my symbol of what a business leader was,” Nibler says. “Andy was a very gentlemanly, astutue, financially minded, even-tempered business leader. He cared about the people, cared very much about building a company culture. It had grown from a family business, so it was very much a family business culture that he ran with a very respectful, positive company culture.”
