The conveniences of today’s technology are so ingrained in our lives that its almost impossible to imagine what life was like when this 4th generation company was founded in 1904. Forget cell phones, TVs, even cars. Electricity in the homes wasn’t very prevalent and many homes still used gas lanterns for lighting. Horse-drawn carriages still were a primary mode of transportation and the air conditioning industry won’t be used for another 50 years. It was then that Sam Lazar started Lazar Fuel Company delivering ice and coal from a horse drawn carriage to homes and businesses in Chicago. In that time that there was no refrigeration so ice was either frozen into huge blocks or shipped down from the North and stored in massive insulated warehouses to be chipped off in blocks and sold to the public. Quite a different time!
After serving as an engineer on a B-52 Bomber in the U.S. Air Force (where he was eventually shot down leaving Ernie and his crew as POWs in Russia), Ernie met Sam’s daughter, Evelyn, while donating blood. Evelyn, who as a civilian nurse, responded to Ernie’s advances by taking a pint of blood! Ernie would recover and eventually marry Evelyn and take part in the family business.
Mark and Russell, Evelyn and Ernie’s sons, would eventually join the business and continue what would be come a great tradition. Russell was very mechanical, even at a young age and was always taking things apart (and most of the time putting them back together!). At age 8 he rebuilt the lawn mower and the dish washer (to the dismay of Evelyn who wanted a new dishwasher!). He would also ride around as a kid and help deliver coal (and get coal dust all over himself in the process!).
By this time the company had added fuel oil to its list of delivery products. One long back-breaking day, after delivering over 2000 lbs of fuel oil, Ernie decided the delivery business was too much. He went and bought a bunch of tools, took his own furnace apart piece by piece, and then rebuilt it. He then called his client base and told them he was switching from the oil delivery to the furnace repair business. The Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning business as we know it today was beginning to take form.
At this point the business was called E. Shavitz and Sons. Mark, the oldest son took over the business and transformed it into a very successful residential service business while Russell, Ernie, and Juliet (Russell’s wife and high school sweetheart) specialized in the commercial market under R.A Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning. They did a lot of commercial restaurant work, ice arenas, office buildings and more. Mark eventually retired and sold E. Shavitz and Sons and retired to the gorgeous foothills of Las Vegas. Around this time, the 4th generation, Bronson and Diana, entered the picture, helping out during summers off from school and college. Both Bronson and Diana weren’t sold on the HVAC industry, well at first. Bronson went to University of Illinois, graduated as a Chemical Engineer, and went to work at ExxonMobil. Diana went to Knox College on scholarship and had aspirations of becoming a surgeon. But Heating and Air Conditioning is in the Shavitz blood and both came back to continue the Century of Innovation! Diana’s husband, Jaron, also joined the true family business after serving in the United States Navy. Their young daughter, Madeline, could some day be the 5th generation! Andi, Bronson’s wife, who is a Chiropractor, is often asked by Russell when she will be joining the family business and, of course “where are the grandkids?”.
The four generations of family owned business have been built on Sam Lazar’s principle of always doing right by the customer. Over 100 years of top notch customer service has built a large and loyal following in Chicagoland and the north suburbs. Shavitz has received many awards for this service including being named the Contractor of the Year for all of Chicagoland in 2007 and 4 time Angie’s List Super Service Award among several others. We appreciate your business and look forward to the next 100 years in business!
