The Zaslow brothers are at that rowdy age. They bicker. They tease. They talk over one another.

They are Exhibits A, B and C that boys, indeed, will be boys - even when they're in their 80s.

But each day doesn't end until Jerome, Spencer, and Arnold Zaslow make peace if anything is amiss - a routine insisted on by their parents. It has been the underpinning of a business relationship among the brothers that endures after more than 60 years of working together.

Besides their bloodline, their bond is ATD-American Co., a furniture and textile distributor in Wyncote that in earlier days had a much more diverse sales portfolio that included broccoli, straitjackets, Jamaican beef patties, pencils, and condoms.

"The idea was to sell anything that you had a good connection to buy," said Arnold Zaslow, at 82 the youngest brother.

The Zaslows' small-business experience is a remarkable and rare run for a family company, said Herbert J. Cohen, a partner in Executive Leaders Radio in Willow Grove, which offers syndicated programming.

"I've interviewed 2,000+ CEOs regarding their success, and I promise you the Zaslow story is special," Cohen wrote in an e-mail.

Far from its humble beginnings, ATD-American now has nearly 200 employees (counting a mill in Georgia, where 70 workers make sheets and pillowcases) and a customer base of more than 100,000 in 78 countries.

As a private company, ATD-American would not release its annual revenue, but it said sales had dipped since the 2008 economic meltdown that still has some of its institutional and government customers squeamish about spending.

Not that the Zaslow brothers are freaked out about it.

Read more:
Diane Mastrull: ATD-American Co. nears its fourth generation of family-run success