Faces Of New Bedford #165: Neil Weiss

Meet Neal Weiss, 71-year-old founder of Fiber Optic Center and owner of Whaling City Sound. Growing up outside of New York, Neal reallocated to New Hampshire to teach after college, where he met his late-wife. She was originally from New Bedford, so after they got married they moved back to this area.

Neal was now commuting to Boston working for Boston Electronics Corp, running the day to day operation. This was all happening while he and his wife were raising their two children, when she became ill. This added stress drove him to find a way to work closer to home and spend more time with his family. He ended up buying the fiber optic portion of Boston Electronics Corp and relocating it to New Bedford as Fiber Optic Center.

After many years of running Fiber Optic Center, Neal decided to pursue his other passions in life. As an avid Jazz music fan, he decided to start a record company that put out Jazz albums. Working with artists all over New England, he has been able to put together handfuls of cd’s, even one that is being used by Destination New Bedford as a promotional item at the visitor’s center.

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Faces of New Bedford is a project by Colton Simmons. If you are interested in booking a shoot or getting prints from the series email all inquiries to colton@coltonsimmons.com.

Read more of the Faces of New Bedford series here.