DAVID P. BUSHNELL

'David P. Bushnell' (March 31, 1913 - March 24, 2005) was an American entrepreneur. Mr. Bushnell founded his company, Bushnell, in 1948. At that time, binoculars were largely an item of luxury. Through a strategy of importation from foreign markets, Bushnell made binoculars widely available to middle-class Americans for the first time. As of 2006, Bushnell Optical remains the leading producer of binoculars in the United States.
Bushnell died at the age of 91 from non-Hodgkins lymphoma at his home in Laguna Beach, California. He was a quartermaster with the U.S. occupying forces in Japan after World War II and he was assigned to evaluate the products manufactured by the Japanese. He related that most of the products were of very low quality but that the optics were of extremely high quality and very inexpensive. He started his business by placing a classified advertisement in Boy's Life Magazine selling Japanese made binoculars of very high quality for ten cents. These high quality binoculars became very popular and were the first product of his successful business.