Pioneer LV hearing-aid specialist Tobin dies at 90

Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2003 | 8:54 a.m.

When Francis Tobin opened his first hearing aid business in 1955 in a room at the Overland Hotel, he did not take into consideration that Las Vegas was a young town without a large elderly population.

"It almost was a disaster. Here he was, a father of five, and he didn't have a market for the business he was starting," said his youngest child, Janice Ritchie, a retired hearing aid specialist. "But Dad did a lot of research and created his own market. And he became successful."

Francis W. Tobin, who became a pioneer in the development of modern auditory aid products, died Oct. 8 at Summerlin Hospital. He was 90. His family disclosed his death on Monday.

Tobin, a high school dropout, launched his successful career with visits to local schools. He asked school officials if he could give hearing tests to the troubled or slow-learning children, Ritchie said.

He discovered that as many as half of the students had some hearing problem. He sold hearing aids to the families that could afford them and gave the devices to disadvantaged children, Ritchie said.

"My father from his earliest days in the business wanted hearing aid operators to be licensed so they would be honest and accountable," Ritchie said. "He worked with others in the field to develop the ear canal hearing aid, and he went to so many local senior homes to give free tests and repair or replace hearing aids that no longer worked properly."

Millie Hart, a longtime Las Vegan and friend, said on many occasions she would send people who had hearing loss to Tobin because "he was a wonderful guy -- an honest salesman who would gave people a fair deal."

Born June 10, 1913, in Kansas City, Mo., Tobin was the oldest of three children of restaurateur Francis A. Tobin and the former Irma Boone. He quit school after the eighth grade to work during the Great Depression.

After several years working for the National Cash Register Co. in California and eventually becoming an executive, he quit that field and received training as a hearing aid specialist with the Belltone company. Tobin worked in Fresno and Riverside, Calif., in the early 1950s before coming to Las Vegas.

He opened his local business with his wife of 37 years Frances -- they shared not only the same first name but also the same birthday -- in the Overland Hotel, now the Las Vegas Club.

The Tobins later moved the Tobin Hearing Aid Co. to Third and Fremont streets. Their business was so successful they often put a "gone fishing" sign on their door and took off to enjoy afternoons at Lake Mead, Ritchie said.

In his office, Tobin displayed an old-fashioned hearing horn to remind customers how hearing aid technology had advanced so quickly. His first patients wore hearing aids connected to large battery packs, but he later sold more convenient eyeglass hearing aids and behind-the-ear auditory devices.

Although he sold his business in 1966, Tobin remained active in the field for many years, lobbying legislators to create in the early 1970s the Nevada Board of Hearing Specialists. His wife died at age 54 in 1971.

In the mid-1990s, Tobin returned to the business by opening the Hearing Correction Center in Pahrump. But when both he and Ritchie suffered health problems in 1998, they retired.

In addition to his daughter, Tobin is survived by another daughter, Kathy Daileda of Seattle, Wash.; three sons, John Tobin and William Tobin, both of Las Vegas, and Mike Tobin of Albuquerque; a brother, James Tobin of Lompoc, Calif., a sister, Dorothy Price, of California; seven grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

A private memorial service is planned for the Las Vegas resident of 48 years.