Don Randall

Donald James "Don" Randall (2 May 1953 – 21 July 2015) was an Australian politician for the Liberal Party. He represented the Division of Swan, Western Australia in the Australian House of Representatives from 1996 to 1998, as well as the Division of Canning, Western Australia, from 2001 until his death in 2015. He was born in Merredin, Western Australia, and was educated at Graylands Teachers College, Perth. He was a teacher and marketing consultant before entering politics.

Don Randall died of a suspected heart attack while in office, and the 2015 Canning by-election was held in his seat.

Electoral history

Randall made his first run for office in 1993, when he ran in the safe state Labor seat of Belmont and was defeated by future opposition leader Eric Ripper.

He was a member of the Belmont City Council 1993–96 before running in Swan in the 1996 election. He was initially slated to run against Deputy Prime Minister Kim Beazley. However, with Labor sinking in the polls, Beazley transferred to the slightly friendlier seat of Brand, and Randall won with a majority of 3.9 percent. He was defeated after only one term by Labor's Kim Wilkie.

Don Randall (Fender)

Don Randall (October 30, 1917 – December 23, 2008) was a manager in the early years of the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. He also came up with many product names, including the Esquire, the Telecaster, the Stratocaster, and the Champ. He was Leo Fender’s partner and the sales, distribution, marketing and advertising behind the company’s rise from small California guitar maker to worldwide status.

Biography

Donald Dean Randall was born in Kendrick, Idaho, on Oct. 30, 1917, to Earnest and Osie Violet Randall. The family moved to California when Randall was 10 years old, and he developed an interest in radios and audio amplifiers while still in high school (he earned his ham radio operator license at age 16 in 1934). At the height of the Big Band era, Randall built a portable amplifier and speaker system that he set up at parties and dances. He graduated from Santa Ana Community College.

Around 1940, Randall worked part-time as a salesman for Santa Ana, Calif., radio supply shop Howard Taylor Wholesale Radio, calling on Southern California radio shops including Clarence “Leo” Fender’s shop in Fullerton, Calif., Fender Radio Service. Randall and Fender met shortly before the United States entered World War II; Randall had bought Taylor’s store in 1941 but sold his inventory on being drafted into the Army.