Popular dog show personality and vendor, Dick Korn, traveled to Perry, Georgia, to set up his RUMBO Pet Supplies booth for the Honeysuckle Cluster dog show weekend. On the way home, he stopped in Ocala, Florida, to drop off a delivery to Richard Thayer. After leaving the Thayer home, Dick headed for Interstate 75 South.
Thirty-one miles south of Ocala, a motorist passed Dick Korn waving and pointing to the back of the RUMBO trailer. Dick quickly pulled over and saw that it was on fire. Another Good Samaritan stopped and said he had already called the fire department. He quickly went to work to help Dick unhook his pickup truck and move it away from the trailer.
It took about half an hour for the fire trucks to arrive. By then, the trailer and its contents were totally engulfed in flames. Everything was lost! Tragically, because it wasn’t inside a warehouse, the insurance policy did not cover the loss.
Dick Korn’s involvement with dogs began when he was living in Savannah, Georgia, in the 1970s and ‘80s.He had rescued a Great Dane from an abusive home, and the blessed dog lived with Dick for two years before going across the “Rainbow Bridge.”
With his interest in the breed sparked, Dick traveled to an American Kennel Club all-breed dog show to look for a new canine to bring home. He met Richard Kerr who put him in touch with some show dog breeders who had a new litter of Great Dane puppies. Dick fell in love, and one of the soon-to-be giant Working Dog puppies was his. The breeders encouraged Dick to begin exhibiting, and a new passion was about to change his life.
While attending shows, Dick began to help a couple of the dog show vendors with their set-ups. By 1982, he started his own small supplies booth. His son, Jason, suggested the name “RUMBO” which was the name of a dog the family owned at the time.
In 1983, Dick met Mike Robertson who was a scissor sharpener at shows. Mike taught Dick the trade and assisted him in getting the necessary equipment. In 1987, Dick moved to Malbar, Florida, and grew his business. By 1988, RUMBO expanded and Dick was a vendor scheduled for 47 or 48 show weekends a year. Currently, the RUMBO booth can be found at 30 clusters yearly.
This fire was not the first devastating thing to happen to Dick Korn. While he was working a dog show in April of 2003, he received the news that his son, Artillery Captain Jason Korn, was killed while serving our country in Iraq.
For the past 40 years, professional handlers, exhibitors, and pet enthusiasts have relied on Dick Korn for supplies. Now I trust the fancy will step up to help Dick and his wife, Joanne, recover from this tragic loss.
Friends wishing to get in touch with Dick may wish to use the following contact information:
Dick Korn
(George Richard Korn)
3115 Weber Road, Malabar, Florida 32950
Cell Numbers: 321-403-4900 and 321-288-9402
Email (also can be used for Pay-Pal): Rumbo@rumbopet.com
