Умер Дэвид Грей, основатель легендарного магазина военных излишков Ax-Man

David Gray, the former owner of Ax-Man Surplus on University Avenue, bought millions of parts and pieces over the years. Gray stocked pretty much everything at Ax-Man, which also has stores in Fridley and St. Louis Park. A partial list: glass beakers, Army camouflage, pictures of Pope John Paul, bowling pins, wheels, oscilloscopes, airplane escape slides, Swedish military helmets, gnomes, milk of magnesia, feather hat bands, mannequin heads, body bags, hinges and salad-dressing mixers. “His favorite purchase was his next purchase,” said Jim Segal, who bought the stores from Gray in 2001. “I call it a military surplus store without the military.” Gray, 77, who lived in St. Paul and West Palm Beach, Fla., died July 11. Gray, who grew up in St. Paul, began working for Ax-Man four years after Jess Liberman founded it in downtown St. Paul in 1964; Liberman’s wife and Gray’s mother were cousins. “When Gray was a starving sculpture student at the University of Minnesota in 1968, he took a job with Liberman, driving a truck, stocking shelves and waiting on trade,” Pioneer Press writer George Beran wrote in an article published in 1990. “After Liberman experienced heart problems, he let Gray buy into the business with sweat equity and bank loans.” “Gray learned to be a gambler, taking a shot at unusual items,” Beran wrote. “Some sold like hotcakes. But Gray also gets stuck with his share of clinkers and takes a 48-foot trailer full of junk to the landfill each month. Once he sent employees to the dump to try to retrieve bottle caps that a customer requested a day after he disposed of them. Sometimes he finds items like discontinued lenses or motors that companies clamor to buy because he sells them much cheaper than other suppliers.” “Need some Velcro strips to tie up tomato plants?” Beran wrote. “The Ax Man says they are ‘imported from the famous Velcro tree fields on the coast of Yugoslavia, where the climate is perfect for fine Velcro.’” “That sounds like David,” Segal said Wednesday. “He was a very witty guy. Witty, but not in an annoying way.” Gray graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in studio arts. “David was the creative force behind the business,” Segal said. “Jess sort of figured out the buying of stuff cheap and selling it cheap, and then David took it to a more creative place.” After Gray sold the business to Segal, he continued to keep an office on site for a year or so and was a longtime mentor and friend to Segal. “That was actually the greatest thing I got out of the business. It was not the business; it was the friendship with David,” Segal said. “It was a big day for me when he started calling me ‘The Ax-Man.’ He was a very curious person, very smart. He could get along with an executive, and he could get along with the janitor. He could relate to all kinds of people. He was interested in hearing other people’s stories. He was a good listener.” Gray, an inventor who held multiple patents, worked at three other businesses throughout his career, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was CEO of Lidco, which manufactures and supplies squeegees and other thin vinyl and film application tools. One of his patents, for example, was issued in 2005 for a “squeegee handle assembly.” Gray also was the founder and CEO of Medtextra, started in 2010, which develops and produces the patented Medtextra smart yarn and fabric, according to his LinkedIn profile. “The innovative textile offers a method of increasing the efficacy of topically applied or previously embedded active agents for health and wellbeing in apparel and footwear,” the profile states. “Using the principles of biomimicry, the technology mimics hygroscopy to create a self-moisturizing yarn that allows a range of active ingredients to be absorbed more easily by the skin.” In 2012, Gray started yet another business – called FLEXSSM – which developed and was in the “process of licensing a thin-film technology for tapes, thin films, packaging and labels,” his profile states. “He was always fiddling,” Segal said. “It was unbelievable. FLEXSSM was a really interesting business. He was working on this technology to make tape and other materials rigid, yet pliable.” According to his obituary, Gray “was a sculptor, inventor, philanthropist, and businessman whose Ax Man business inspired artists, inventors, and curious and enchanted customers.” “He was a citizen of the world, traveling extensively, gathering and maintaining friends throughout his life,” his obituary states. “He loved riding his bike, sailing, golf, bocce, studying world history and events, collecting and creating art, engaging in serious and silly discussions, but most of all he loved life and encouraged people to appreciate every day.” How did Ax-Man get its name? When Liberman opened it, he called it “The Man With The Ax,” Segal said. “The story I was told is that he was ‘chopping down prices,’” he said. “Then at some point it became Ax-Man. That had a better ring to it. ‘Ax-Man’ flowed better than ‘The Man With An Ax.’” Gray was preceded in death by his first wife, Candy Gray. He is survived by his wife, Robin Gray, and two stepdaughters, Kathy Morgenstern and Stacey Igel, and their spouses and children. A funeral service, which will be available via livestream, will be held at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at Mount Zion Temple in St. Paul, followed by interment at Mount Zion Cemetery in St. Paul. A shiva service will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at Mount Zion Temple. Hodroff-Epstein Memorial Chapels in St. Paul is handling arrangements.