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Talk about being in the right place at the right time. When Sam Runco started his large-screen projection business in 1986, the world was just beginning to learn about home theater systems.
Seventeen years later, his company, Runco International Inc in Union City, is a $50 million-a-year business. When asked to name some of his customers, he sounds matter of fact when dropping names.
"Well, John Travolta and Barbra Streisand," he said, modestly stopping at the two celebrities. "And a lot of doctors and lawyers, too."
As much as Runco may enjoy the spotlight - he was invited to Frank Sinatra's 80th birthday party, where he struck up a friendship with crooner Wayne Newton - he gets more excited about innovations in technology. His interest first piqued when, as a young boy, he accompanied his father on shopping trips for the restaurant and nightclub his family ran.
"When we'd go to the Acme Market, I'd look at magazines like Popular Mechanics," he said. "I remember that (the magazine) predicted that in the future, everyone in America would have a big-screen TV. That was 50 years ago." Runco later toyed with electronics,...