In memoriam: Chuck Rothstein

Chuck Rothstein, 87, of Knoxville, Tenn., died Feb. 5, 2022. After serving in the U.S. Navy and working as an insurance agent and sales manager, Rothstein opened his first business in 1969 — Redi Rentals in Knoxville. The company rented construction equipment and tools.

When the World’s Fair came to town in 1982, he saw the need for a different type of rental business and founded Party Rentals. In 1993, Rothstein relocated both Redi Rentals and Party Rentals to a 40,000-sq.-ft. facility where both businesses continued to grow. In 1997, Rothstein and his wife, Lunda decided to sell the companies and retire. They sold both companies to an emerging consolidator in the rental industry, HSS RentX.

Though retired, Rothstein helped a former employee, Terry Turner, CERP, whom he had mentored, realize his dream of starting his own rental company. All Occasion Party Rentals was founded in Knoxville and flourishes to this day on the same site where Rothstein had envisioned it in 1993. Rothstein and Terry Turner founded AOPR in November 2002 and had the opportunity to re-purchase the party division of HSS RentX in Knoxville in 2004. In 2012, AOPR purchased ToeZay Decorating and renamed it All Convention & Expo Services, East Tennessee’s resource for trade show services.

He is survived by two sons, Morrie and Monty.