Ron Pierce, founder of Bass Cat Boats, dies at 81

MOUNTAIN HOME — Ron Pierce, the founder of Bass Cat Boats and a former member of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, has died after battling a long illness. He was 81.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said Pierce died Sunday. Pierce's son, Rick Pierce, confirmed the death and said in a statement that his father "was a great man who cared about people more than most anything."

Ron Pierce and his wife, Jan, founded Bass Cat in their two-car garage in 1971. The company makes fishing boats and now employs more than 100 workers at its Mountain Home headquarters.

Pierce was born in Nowata, Okla.

He served as Mountain Home's mayor from 1976 to 1986 and on the Game and Fish Commission from 2006 to 2013.

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