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Dr. Robert Dressler
Managing Director
Raymond James & Associates

Dr. Robert Dressler was born May 5,1925, served in the United States Navy during World War II, earned his B.S and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering at Columbia University and received an honorary Doctor of Science, Sc.D, from the University of South Florida.

In the years after the war, Dr. Dressler was involved in electronic research in television, color television, military electronics, and satellite reconnaissance for the intelligence community and the Department of Defense.  In this work he served as Vice President, Director of Research and finally President of Autometric Corporation. He served on the National Television Systems Committee (NTSC, the technical group who formulated the color television standard used for the United States).

Autometric Corporation, now owned by Boeing Aircraft, was then purchased by Raytheon Company where Dr. Dressler ultimately became Director of Advanced Systems.  The work there involved significant highly classified defense and intelligence programs.

In 1973, he took a position in and joined Crown Industries, a small Florida building materials manufacturer, as President and CEO.  His idea was to fully automate the manufacturing process with methods learned, at Raytheon, in their participation in the United States Space Program.  The company reached sales in excess of $100M and was purchased by Florida Progress in 1985.

After a two-year transition period with Florida Progress Dr. Dressler joined Raymond James and Associates in July 1987.    He is now Managing Director in the Corporate Finance Department.  Dr. Dressler also served on the Board of Directors of Raymond James Financial from 1983 to February 1987. Dr. Dressler has three daughters, lives with his wife, Edie, in Tampa, Florida.