Corporate History

Neptune-Benson, Inc. was founded in 1956 by Junius "Babe" and Raymond Gertz as a State of Rhode Island licensed professional engineering corporation. In the early years, the Company was comprised of two divisions: Neptune Filter Company and Benson Engineered Products. The Neptune Filter Company name was derived from the Roman mythological god of the sea. Their filters were manufactured primarily for residential and semi-commercial pools and were sold to pool builders nationwide. The naming of Benson Engineered Products had a much more personal meaning, as Junius and Raymond are the "sons of Benjamin Gertz."

They formed this company to design and construct large steel swimming pools all over the Northeastern United States for country clubs, municipalities and non-profit agencies. Over the next nine years, both divisions grew and the markets began to merge, so in 1965, Neptune and Benson joined forces to better serve the aquatic marketplace. These early years provided many valuable lessons as the Company looked to diversify and expand their filtration business.

In June of 1978, corporate offices and manufacturing facilities were devastated by a fire, which also destroyed the pool fabrication equipment. As a result, a new focus was directed towards the technical development of filtration systems and engineering services for the institutional swimming pool industry. By November of 1978, the fire was ancient history and there was never any turning back.

Also in 1978, Barry Gertz, Junius's son, joined the Company, which helped secure the heritage of Neptune-Benson as a family business. The addition of another mechanical engineer with aquatic industry experience provided many new opportunities for product development along with corporate expansion.

Over the last 50 years, Neptune-Benson has become a recognized leader in the design and manufacture of aquatic components. Product innovations including Flexsol™ linings, patented stainless steel gutters and bulkheads, The Command Center™, Dominion™ Valves and Guardian™ Strainers have elevated Neptune-Benson's popularity as a company with vision.

The most revolutionary of all product innovations has been the Defender™ Automatic Regenerative Media Filter which was introduced in 2004. In a socio-economic climate promoting "green" building products and "sustainability", Defender™ is the earth-friendly solution for pristine pool water. Advantages include saving millions of gallons of water and waste; delivering superior water quality; saving on costly mechanical room space; and saving chemicals, fuel costs and energy.

2006 was a golden year as Neptune-Benson celebrated its 50th Anniversary. Today a brand new 70,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility sets the stage for the next 50 years. With more than 6,000 installations in the world's most prestigious waterparks, resorts, aquariums and swimming pools, Neptune-Benson is proud to offer the industry's most comprehensive line of filtration equipment, pool recirculation systems and aquatic components backed by unsurpassed technical service and product guarantees.

A message from our President:

"Growing up in a family business, you have the opportunity to learn at every level. I greatly appreciate the input from designers, contractors and pool operators, who helped shape the course of our business.

The aquatics market has not been exempt from current business trends such as mergers, acquisitions, closing and leveraged buy-outs which have changed the profile of this industry. Some companies have become larger and others were absorbed or divested. This activity has raised the awareness of aquatic professionals to place corporate stability at the top of their list for supplier credentials.

Neptune-Benson is encouraged by this elevated consciousness. With our veteran staff, mandate for quality, zero debt and a history of more than 50 years, we are perfectly poised for the future of aquatics. As Neptune-Benson's third Gertz President and on behalf of our entire staff, I look forward to continuing the family tradition in the 21st century."


Barry M. Gertz, President