Preston Mitchell Fleet (February 26, 1934 – January 31, 1995), nicknamed Sandy, was the founder of

Fotomat Fotomat was an American retail chain of photo development drive-through kiosks located primarily in shopping center parking lots. Fotomat Corporation was founded by Preston Fleet in San Diego, California, in the 1960s, with the first kiosk open ...

. Fotomat was a once-widespread retail chain of

photo A photograph (also known as a photo, or more generically referred to as an ''image'' or ''picture'') is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor. The process and pra ...

development

drive-thru A drive-through or drive-thru (a sensational spelling of the word through), is a type of take-out service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products (or use the service provided by the business) without leaving their ...

kiosk Historically, a kiosk () was a small garden pavilion open on some or all sides common in Iran, Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward. Today, several examples of this type of kiosk still exist ...

s located in shopping center parking lots. He was a son of aerospace pioneer Reuben H. Fleet. Fleet co-founded

WD-40 WD-40 (Water Displacement, 40th formula) is an American manufacturer and the trademark of a penetrating oil manufactured by the WD-40 Company based in San Diego, California. Its formula was invented for the Rocket Chemical Company in 1953, ...

in 1953, then went on to co-found Fotomat in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, in 1965; the first kiosk was opened in

Point Loma Point Loma ( Spanish: ''Punta de la Loma'', meaning "Hill Point"; Kumeyaay: ''Amat Kunyily'', meaning "Black Earth") is a seaside community in San Diego, California, United States. Geographically it is a hilly peninsula that is bordered on the ...

in 1965). The company went public in 1971 and was listed on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

(NYSE) in 1977. At its peak around 1980 there were over 4,000 Fotomats throughout the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, primarily in suburban areas. Fotomats were distinctive for their pyramid-shaped gold-colored roofs and signs with red-lettering, usually positioned in a large parking area, such as a supermarket or

strip mall A strip mall, strip center, strip plaza or simply plaza is a type of shopping mall, shopping center common in North America and Australia where the stores are arranged in a row, with a footpath in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a ...

, as the Fotomat huts required a minimal amount of land and were able to accommodate cars driving up to drop off or pick up film.LA Times
Obituaries: Preston Fleet, 60; Fotomat Founder February 03, 1995 He was a co-founder of San Diego's

Reuben H. Fleet Science Center The Fleet Science Center is a science museum and planetarium in Balboa Park (San Diego), Balboa Park in San Diego, California. Established in 1973, it was the first science museum to combine interactive science exhibits with a planetarium and an ...

and Space Museum. He helped design the Science Center to have a special

movie projector A movie projector (or film projector) is an optics, opto-mechanics, mechanical device for displaying Film, motion picture film by projecting it onto a movie screen, screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illuminat ...

Omnimax IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating, with the ...

, housed in a dome wall and ceiling that makes the audience feel as if they are moving like the camera did when filming. A decade earlier he had been a founding director of the

San Diego Air and Space Museum The San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM) is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California. It is located in Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building, which is listed on the US National Register of Historic Plac ...

. Fleet's hobbies were

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

and playing

theater organ A theatre organ (also known as a theater organ, or, especially in the United Kingdom, a cinema organ) is a type of pipe organ developed to accompany silent films from the 1900s to the 1920s. Theatre organs have horseshoe-shaped arrangements of ...

s. He was for a time the president of the National Theatre Organ Society. He attended

Culver Military Academy Culver Academies is a college preparatory boarding school in Culver, Indiana, which is composed of three entities: Culver Military Academy (CMA) for boys, Culver Girls Academy (CGA), and the Culver Summer Schools and Camps (CSSC). Culver Milita ...

. His third wife was Beth Palmer Fleet and was survived by sons Justin Fleet and L. Alexander Fleet, and step-sons

Drew Palmer Drew may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places ;In the United States * Drew, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Drew, Mississippi, a city * Drew, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Drew, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Drew County, Arkansas * ...

, Darryl Gray and Derek Gray. His eldest son, Allen Mitchell Fleet, died 1991. Film Credits *

Chronos Chronos (; ; , Modern Greek: ), also spelled Chronus, is a personification of time in Greek mythology, who is also discussed in pre-Socratic philosophy and later literature. Chronos is frequently confused with, or perhaps consciously identified ...

(Consulting Producer) *

Shinbone Alley ''Shinbone Alley'' (sometimes performed as ''archy & mehitabel'') is a musical with a book by Joe Darion and Mel Brooks, lyrics by Darion, and music by George Kleinsinger. Based on the album ''Archy and Mehitabel: A Back-Alley Opera'', which i ...

(Producer) *

Run If You Can ''Run If You Can'' () is a 2010 German drama film directed by Dietrich Brüggemann. Cast * Robert Gwisdek Robert Gwisdek (born 29 January 1984) is a German actor and musician. The son of actors Michael Gwisdek and Corinna Harfouch, he ...

(Executive Producer) * Cabaret (film) (Producer) *

The Man Who Would Be King "The Man Who Would Be King" (1888) is a story by Rudyard Kipling about two British adventurers in British India who become kings of Kafiristan, a remote part of Afghanistan. The story was first published in '' The Phantom 'Rickshaw and Other T ...

(Producer)

References

External links

Family photographs of Preston Mitchell Fleet

1934 births 1995 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople Culver Academies alumni Businesspeople from San Diego {{US-business-bio-1930s-stub