Truly Nolen

Truly Nolen, who founded the pest-control company famous for cars decorated like mice, died Tuesday April 18 2017 in Naples. He was 89. Nolen had founded the company in Miami in 1938. He was still chairman of the Orlando-based company and routinely involved in its operation. He appeared by videophone every month during weeklong training for new employees, company spokesman Toby Srebnik said. His son Scott Nolen is president of the company. He told the Orlando Sentinel in 2014 that the mouse cars were originally supposed to be Batmobiles because Batman was popular back then, “but people thought it was a mouse, so we changed it.” The company had gone global years ago. From its base in Orlando, Truly Nolen International expanded to about 60 countries, including Mexico, Saudi Arabia, China, Turkey and the United Kingdom. The company’s North American headquarters was in Arizona. Truly Nolen is survived by his wife of 32 years, Vickie Taylor Nolen, and by eight children, 12 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.