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Oral History: Dave Cutter — December 2005

December 21, 2021 Leave a Comment

Dave Cutter Title Card

Summary:

Dave Cutter was interviewed by Julie Sullivan in December, 2005. Dave grew up in Berkeley, then went to Stanford for both an undergraduate degree and MBA. He worked in the accounting field for a couple of years, then returned to Berkeley to work in the family business, Cutter Labs. He settled and raised a family in Lafayette and went on to become company president. As a boy Dave used to visit Lafayette on horseback, starting out from his grandparents farm in Orinda. He remembers competing in the Lafayette Horse Show and Rodeo at the age of 10.

Oral History:

Dave Cutter’s earliest memories of Lafayette center on his grandparents’ ranch. “My grandfather purchased some property in Orinda and built a house out of used lumber in the 1930’s. It was kind of a summer place. There were eight of us in my generation, and we kids had horses or ponies and we used to come up Bear Creek Road from Orinda over the hill and into Happy Valley Road, where Briones Reservoir is now. Our parents pretty much let us go on our own. There wasn’t any traffic back then.

“There were a couple of rodeos in those days. One was the Castro Rodeo out in San Pablo, El Sobrante. The other one was the Lafayette Horse Show and Rodeo. I had a little loving cup because I was the best juvenile in the show, and it was awarded by Miss Graham’s Riding Academy from Orinda. I was about ten years old.”

Dave was born in Berkeley in 1929 and met his future wife, Nancy, when both were in fourth grade. He graduated from Berkeley High in January, 1947. “I went to Cal for one semester before I saw the light and went to Stanford,” he says. He received a bachelors degree in Economics and an MBA from Stanford, then worked for a CPA firm, first in Palo Alto and later in San Francisco while deciding whether to join Cutter Labs, the family company. “Cutter Laboratories had a rule that any relatives of management had to work somewhere else for two years after they got their degree to avoid the ‘silver spoon’ syndrome,” Dave says. “I had a decision whether to stay with my CPA profession or put all my eggs in one basket.”

Dave’s grandfather, Edward A. Cutter, started the company, which made vaccines, in Fresno in 1897. “It was a little hot in Fresno for making biologicals so he moved the company to Berkeley in 1903,” Dave explains. The plant was located on Dwight Way near Aquatic Park. “I started working at the company in 1945, when I was sixteen, before the child labor laws prevented it. All the able-bodied people were off fighting the war. I worked after school on Friday and all day Saturday, and all summer. I did general labor, hoeing weeds sometimes. We had what we called the Bull Gang, mostly high school kids. We met in the personnel manager’s office every morning, and he assigned the work. Later on I worked in the shipping room.

“There was a piece of property across the road from the Bruzzone property off Happy Valley in Lafayette that Cutter Laboratories rented in the 1930’s to run some horses and cattle,” Dave remembers. “At that time Cutter Laboratories had only one location. About 1952 we opened our second location in Chattanooga.” Dave’s grandfather died in 1933 and his father, Robert Cutter, M.D., became the chief executive.

“Cutter insect repellant was another one of our products. My father was a physician and followed the literature the Army was giving out on DEET (the active ingredient in many insect repellants). He had the pharmacists on the staff make up various formulations to put the DEET in. He very scientifically tested them by bringing a couple of bottles to the duck hunting club and saying, ‘All right, guys, use this on one arm and this on the other and tell me which you like the best,’” Dave remembers with a grin.

When Dave’s father retired in 1962, Dave’s uncle, Fred, became chief executive. Dave chose to join Cutter Labs, eventually becoming president in 1967. “When we were acquired by Bayer in 1974, our annual sales were around $90 million, and we had more than 3,000 employees in 11 or 12 locations, including Chattanooga, Kansas City, Spokane, Calgary, Mexico City, Kobe, Japan, and Sydney, Australia,” Dave says. “In 1984, Bayer merged Cutter into Miles Laboratories.

“When Bayer bought us, I was kicked upstairs to chairman of the board. I had planned on retiring at age 55, which I did in 1984. The plant today has been upgraded tremendously, and Bayer is using it as their Biotechnology World Headquarters because it’s in the midst of a lot of biotechnology companies.”

Dave and Nancy have five sons and five granddaughters. After the family moved to Lafayette in 1966, Dave’s involvement in the East Bay business community broadened. He served on the board of Cal West, a factoring company that handled accounts receivable for small businesses. “It used to be where Tokyo Chicken (now Giardino’s) was, just below Butler-Conti Dodge (now closed),” he remembers. “Don Court invited me to join the board when he started the company, and that’s how I got to know Bill Eames.” Bill, who owned Bill’s Drugs, acquired Cal West, eventually phasing out the company. “At that point, Visa and MasterCard were coming in,” Dave explains. “Bill invited me to serve on the board of Bill’s Drugs.

“When I retired (from Cutter Labs) I went on the board of Civic Bank of Commerce, which was starting in Oakland and Walnut Creek. We started two offices simultaneously in 1984. I remained on that board until the company was acquired by City National around 2002. Also in 1984, I was invited to join the board of a start-up in Southern California called Chad Therapeutics, which manufactured oxygen conserving devices. I stayed on that board until around 2003, when I stepped down.”

Dave’s involvement in the community wasn’t limited to business affairs. He was president of the Mt. Diablo Silverado Boy Scout Council for three years and was on the board until 2004. He and four of his sons are former scouts. He was on the board of Herrick Hospital in Berkeley and served as president until 1984 when Herrick merged with Alta Bates Hospital. He served on the Alta Bates board of trustees and was chairman from 1990-95. “It kept my mind active,” he adds. Dave maintained an office at Bayer in Berkeley until 2002.

“When we moved to Lafayette, I think Ned Robinson was mayor. It was about the time they had the vote on incorporating. Lafayette was pretty developed. Safeway and the shopping center Bruzzone built were here, Lucky’s was here, Bill’s Drugs was here. I remember the Bruzzones. Milt lived next to us. The Bruzzone family owned the property, and Milt and Russ were brothers in a construction business together. After that I think they kind of went on their own.

“Before we moved out here, Nancy even went back to Berkeley to shop, then she tried Diablo Foods, and she’s been going there ever since. We moved to Orinda in 1983, then to Rossmoor in 1999, but she comes back twice a month for some of the ‘good stuff.’ She knows the butchers by their first name, and they all call her Nancy. Some of the old-time checkers know her, too.”

Excerpted from “Voices of Lafayette” by Julie Sullivan. This book is available for purchase in the History Room.

Filed Under: Oral History Tagged With: Early Resident, Oral History

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