Delmer Werden Wagner, founder of Wagner Meters, died on December 22, 2018 in Grants Pass, Oregon. He was 87.
Wagner was born on November 25, 1931, in Glendale, California. Wagner grew up on Sykes Creek out of Rogue River, Oregon. Following graduation at Walla Walla College, he taught math at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon.
Wagner was a visionary who soon found himself developing moisture measurement systems for lumber mills. He started by creating the first transistorized systems, followed by noncontact systems and then was also the first to calibrate the measurements systems within percent moisture content – all things that are now mainstream in today’s industry.
He went from selling these systems out of the back of his van to building a business out of Rogue River, Oregon and then going international with his sales.
Wagner is survived by his wife, Evelyn, and his two children, Ed Wagner, whom he passed the Wagner Meters legacy to, and his daughter, Judy Blair, an administrator in the healthcare system in Florida.