Lionel Diaz (right), President Emeritus of MANA, who died in January at 90, is seen last October 2012 with his son Christian at a San Francisco 49er game.

Lionel Diaz, 90, President Emeritus of MANA, died in January. A former independent manufacturers’ rep heading up his own agency for 29 years, Diaz served as President and CEO of MANA from 1995 to 1998.

He was actively involved in MANA’s operations from 1971, serving as Director, Chairman of the Board, Senior Vice President, Executive Vice President, President/CEO and finally as President Emeritus. He retired from MANA in 1998.

He is survived by two sons, Christian and Ramon, and two grandchildren.

Diaz was a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, New York. He served in both the Atlantic and Pacific during World War II. After the war, he spent some time playing professional football and teaching. Around 1961 he had the opportunity to move to the West Coast and it was there that he opened an independent representative agency, C & R Associates, San Carlos, California. At the same time he operated a distributorship.

In the early ’90s he relocated to Southern California to take a hand in managing MANA.

As he recalled his time with his father, Christian Diaz, who now runs C & R Associates, said “I can’t thank him enough for encouraging me to become a rep. I’m independent and working on my own and there’s nothing better than that. He was a wealth of knowledge to me and to MANA.”

MANA Reactions

There was no shortage of reaction to Diaz’s death from the MANA and rep communities.

•   MANA President and CEO Charley Cohon, CPMR, notes that “Without Lionel Diaz, MANA might not be here today. Lionel took over as CEO of the association at a particularly challenging time in MANA’s history, and he managed MANA away from that situation into a strong and healthy organization.

“MANA Vice President and General Manager Jerry Leth and I took Lionel to dinner about a year ago. Lionel was sharp as a tack, vigorous, enthusiastic, and remained a strong supporter of MANA. Jerry and I had hoped to get Lionel out again, but his health took a turn for the worse, and the medical problems that kept us from getting him back out again eventually took Lionel from us.

“I am glad to have had the chance to spend time with Lionel, and am saddened that I won’t have that opportunity again. Lionel made an important contribution to MANA, and I am so glad to have had the opportunity to thank him personally before he passed.”

•   Joe Miller, who followed Diaz as MANA’s President and CEO, notes that “Lionel was just the right man for MANA at the time he took over. Being a former rep, he was a firm believer in the value that the rep provides and worked hard to put programs together that would help reps. He encountered a number of challenges during his tenure with the association. He met all those challenges and left the organization in excellent shape.”

•   Helen Degli-Angeli, CPMR, Operations Manager, J & K Sales Associates, Manchester, New Hampshire, was for many years the MANA Executive Vice President. Working with Diaz for his entire tenure at MANA headquarters, she says, “Lionel enjoyed a good battle and he loved to win — whether in sports or selling. That’s what made him a good sales rep. The challenge and then the thrill of winning the sale. He was very active in MANA even before he became president of the organization and turned it into a more member-driven association. For many years prior to coming to MANA Lionel served on the MANA board and participated in the educational seminar programs. As a former teacher it gave him great satisfaction to educate others and impart the wisdom he gained from his experiences in the rep business. The rep business has changed a lot since Lionel was in it, but some of the qualities he had — and all good reps have — remain: integrity, optimism, loyalty and persistence.  Lionel was a good friend and mentor and will be missed.”

•   Armed with more than 20 years of service on the MANA Board, including a term as Chairman, Bryant Callaghan, CPMR, recalls that Lionel was the ideal person to see the association through a transition period from his predecessor to the tenure of his successor Joe Miller. “After Lionel left his own rep business, it was all MANA for him. You couldn’t count the number of hours he put in on behalf of its members. During his time in office he was always thinking about what had to be done next.” As an example, Callaghan, Tri-State Marketing, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio, cites Lionel’s constant reminder to Board members that he was only going to serve as president for a limited period of time. “I can remember him saying, ‘Look I’m only here for one more year. You had better plan to have someone in place to come after me.’ Thankfully, we were able to do that successfully in the person of Joe Miller.”

If Diaz was constantly looking ahead, Callaghan also notes with fondness his stubbornness aimed at bettering the rep’s professional standing. “Lionel was certainly set in his ways and we often butted heads. The bottom line, however, was that he was always focused on what was best for reps and for MANA.”

No recollection of Lionel Diaz would be complete without mentioning his beloved San Francisco 49ers. Callaghan recalls one Executive Board meeting that took place in San Francisco. “The meeting was in the middle of the NFL playoffs and if the 49ers won their playoff game the previous week, they would have progressed to the NFC championship game the weekend we were in San Francisco. Lionel managed to get tickets for all of us to attend that game. Unfortunately, they lost, so the game never took place. But there on the table in front of all of us were tickets to the game that never happened.”

•   Another former Chairman of MANA’s Board, Mack Sorrells, CPMR, Mack W. Sorrells Co., Inc., Van, Texas, says, “I was deeply saddened to learn about Lionel. I had the rare opportunity to know and work with him during my tenure on the Board. Many reps will never know that Lionel literally saved MANA. He worked on behalf of reps simply out of his love for the profession and the association. He was a Rep’s Rep. Lionel wasn’t necessarily an association manager, but he put the association on a stable and firm footing. He was a true leader and early on saw the value of MRERF and CPMR, when most of the Board at MANA didn’t.”

•   Bill Fitch, Griggs Associates, Pickens, South Carolina, who served on MANA’s Board for six years, recalls that “Lionel was very ethical in everything that he did. When he did something, he wanted it done right and uppermost in his mind was the welfare of reps and the members of MANA. I think much of what Lionel did grew out of his days as a football referee, where there was no grey area. Things were right or wrong. That’s the way he operated.”

Asked what his MANA legacy might be, Fitch says, “If not for Lionel, MANA would not be where it is today. He took the association through some difficult times and really made a difference.”

•   For many of the years Diaz directed MANA’s operations, Hank Bergson served as president of the National Electrical Manufacturers Representatives Association. During their joint years of service the two men had any number of occasions to work together. According to Bergson, president, Henry Bergson Associates, LLC, Katonah, New York, “Several words immediately come to mind when I think of Lionel — honest, ethical, open-minded and willing to share.

“All of those qualities were needed as Lionel took the association though a difficult period. He set a whole new tone for the organization and safely placed it in the hands of his immediate successor Joe Miller and ultimately today in the hands of Charley Cohon.”

Bergson also notes Diaz’s efforts to work closely with other rep associations. “Instead of closing the doors to sister associations, he made every effort to work closely with other organizations. Lionel’s words that I will always recall are ‘We’re all in this together.’ He worked diligently on behalf of the rep profession and on behalf of MANA. He was a class act and a fine gentleman who will be sorely missed.”

As he bid farewell to MANA in an October 1998 editorial in Agency Sales, Diaz recalled his service to the association when he said, “These few years with MANA have been a labor of love for me.” Then — as he often did — he offered the reminder that “We are all in this together. My succinct definition of being together is that what affects one of us eventually affects all of us. In my judgment it is therefore important that we all hang in there together.”