BURGE COMPANY HISTORY For Three Generations... Roy L. Burge, Founder Roy was born in Utah and was raised in Washington state. He graduated from Tappenish High School in Washington and then moved from Seattle to Oakland, California in 1930. Roy worked in the construction field and in 1939 started working in structural pest control. Structural pest control includes any wood destroying organisms such as termites or fungus. During World War II, Roy served in the South Pacific as a sergeant. He was with the Aviation Engineers (865th) Batallion in the New Guinea and Phillippine Campaigns. After discharge he returned to structural pest control work. In 1952 Roy founded Roy L. Burge, Inc. which at one time was one of the largest in the East Bay. He was a talented artist and wood worker and hand carved this dampwood termite soldier out of wood. Dave Franklin Dave was born in San Francisco. His family moved to Alameda in 1961. His mother, Martha, married Roy Burge in 1967. During the summers while in high school and college Dave worked with the termite crews. He graduated from Alameda High School and California State Hayward. After graduation he returned to work for Roy. Dave purchased Roy L. Burge, Inc. in 1974. The company continued working in the field of structural pest control, performing termite inspections and repairs, mainly in Alameda. In 1985 he started the general pest control side of the business. General pest control includes any insect around a home that does not cause damage to wood. Examples are: ants, spiders and wasps. Rats and mice are also included in this category. Dave has been very active in the industry for many decades. Along with his sister, brother in-law and wife he teaches Continuing Education for industry licensing. Every license holder in the industry must attend continuing education classes on a regular basis in order to maintain licensing. Even today, it's common to catch Dave helping in the office and in the field. Rich Crawford Rich was born in Oakland, California. Susan, Rich's mom, met Dave Franklin when Rich was five and moved to Alameda. After graduating from Alameda High School, Rich got his pest control license and began working for Dave. Upon graduating from Laney College, Rich received a baseball scholarship to the University of San Francisco. At the end of his junior year, he signed a minor league contract with the Florida Marlins Organization. Throughout school and during the off season Rich continued to work for Dave. When baseball ended, Rich returned to Burge. Rich purchased Roy L. Burge, Inc. in 1998. Today the company focuses primarily on general pest control, termite and fungus treatments but no longer does termite repair work. CALL 888 292-7378 © 2005 Burge Pest Control. For noncommercial purposes only any website may link directly to this page. FOR ALL OTHER USES or more information, read LEGAL NOTICES. Webmaster www.designwestgraphics.com