i3 - November/December 2017 - 45

Mitchell S. Mohr
PUBLISHER,
FOUNDER,TWICE
CELLUPHONE
MAGAZINE
(1923
(1947
- 2017)
-0000)

uccessful realtor and
boating enthusiast Mitch
Mohr kept hearing the
word "cellular" throughout
1982. Intrigued by this unknown
new technology, Mohr visited
San Diego's main library and
researched it. Realizing a new
opportunity, he jumped in feet
first and founded Celluphone,
which would become "America's
Premier Master Agent" - one
of the nation's largest wireless
distributors and the oldest
wireless agent in the country.
Mohr was born in Chicago on
June 29, 1923, to Rose and Max
Mohr, who moved to Los Angeles
when Mohr was 8. In December
1941, just after Pearl Harbor,
the recent high school graduate
volunteered for the Army Air
Corps, where he served as an
air-traffic controller at various
pilot-training postings for the
duration of World War II.
After the war, he worked as
a traveling salesman throughout
the western U.S. In 1956, he
married Nancy, started a family
and then moved to San Diego
in 1962. He launched and led
Mitchell Mohr Real Estate, which
innovated many marketing
and sales techniques that were
copied throughout the residential
realtor industry.
Learning that cellular
would launch in Los Angeles
in time for the 1984 summer
Olympics, Mitch and Nancy
founded Celluphone in 1983.
In September of that year, he
signed the first authorized

S

C TA . t e c h / i 3

Mitch Mohr founded
Celluphone, "America's Premier
Master Agent" and one of the nation's
largest wireless distributors
in the country.

agent contract with AT&T AMPs,
the distant predecessor of
Verizon Wireless, becoming
the first cellular agent west of
the Mississippi. After this, Mohr
installed the Motorola phone in
the car where the first official
cellular call was made from Los
Angeles - by Mayor Tom Bradley
to the Olympic torch runner
outside of El Paso, Texas.
Celluphone started as a
direct-sales company, selling
the new $2,500 car-trunkinstalled cellular phones mostly
to business and entertainment
customers. Celluphone
placed the first cellular phone
newspaper advertisement in
Los Angeles, feeding a call

center and creating leads. A true
"salesman's salesman," Mohr
believed the market only would
support luxury-priced phones
and customer-direct sales for
so long. If this new industry was
to last and thrive, he knew it
needed to move to brick-andmortar retail. Rather than open
his own stores, starting in 1985
Celluphone started engaging
existing businesses to jump
into cellular to accelerate and
leverage the rollout of a new
industry, creating a network of
independent wireless retailers,
and becoming the first "Master
Agent" in wireless.
Mohr's wife, Nancy,
established the company's sales

style, leveraging her charm
and sensibility to motivate and
develop the company's retailers.
Celluphone distinguished
itself by supporting retailers in
all aspects of their business,
providing an array of services
and products necessary to thrive,
including wireless handsets,
subscriber activation, prompt
and clear commissions and
reporting, training, marketing,
and proprietary activation and
commission technologies.
Celluphone's success in Los
Angeles led to its growth, under
the leadership of Mohr's son,
Mike, to San Francisco, San
Diego, Sacramento, Houston,
Dallas, Austin, St. Louis and
Chicago. While Celluphone
worked with Cellular One, AT&T,
Cingular and several MVNOs
in different markets over the
years, the company represented
Verizon Wireless exclusively
beginning in 2004.
These innovations, practices
and drive, along with a
reputation for credibility, enabled
Celluphone to build a network
of more than 2,000 retailers
across the country. Celluphone's
growth occurred because of
a focus on the success of its
customers, its retailers. Perhaps
more importantly to the industry,
Celluphone's and Mohr's early
advocacy for cellular helped
drive the nationwide adoption of
the mobile phone.
Mohr retired as a cellular
legend, icon, leader and force
of nature.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

45
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