death_date death_place birth_place imagesize birth_date article_title birth_name occupation
01 october 2012 carson valley , nevada muscatine , iowa 200px 18 october 1924 donald e. bently
 donald e. bently engineer
donald e. bently

donald e. bently -lrb- october 18 , 1924 - october 1 , 2012 -rrb- was an american entrepreneur and engineer , best known as the founder and former owner of bently nevada corporation where he performed pioneering work in the field of instrumentation for measuring the mechanical condition of rotating machinery .
he founded bently nevada in october , 1961 , and served as its ceo until february , 2002 , when he sold the company to ge energy .
ge continues to design , manufacture , and market the products and services under the bently nevada name .
following the sale of the company , bently has subsequently remained active in his other family-owned businesses representing a diverse range of interests including rotordynamics , agriculture , biofuels , real estate , externally pressurized fluid bearings , and machinery diagnostics .
