I found the following excerpt from wikipedia:
Kimber was founded as "Kimber of Oregon" in 1979 by Greg and Jack Warne in the small town of Clackamas, Oregon. Jack Warne had moved to Oregon in 1968 after Portland-based Omark Industries purchased the Australian firearms manufacturer, Sporting Arms (or SportCo), he founded in Adelaide, South Australia following WWII. Even though Jack eventually became president of Omark, he always had a strong desire to return to his manufacturing roots. So, he drafted his son, Greg, and the two set out to found Kimber.
Following its founding, Kimber of Oregon quickly built a reputation for accurate .22 caliber rifles, began to expand its product line and eventually acquired a second manufacturing plant in the nearby city of Colton.
In the late 1980s, the company fell on hard times after a private stock offering fell short to cover the costs of developing the M89 Big Game Rifle. In 1989, Kimber of Oregon was sold to Oregon timber baron, Bruce Engel, who was the founder of WTD Industries, Inc. However, Engel quickly found that running a high end gun maker was not as easy as it seemed; Kimber soon found itself seeking bankruptcy protection. Unfortunately, Kimber of Oregon's assets were liquidated. But, as it turned out, this boded well for Greg Warne.
Notably, in 1990 several Kimber employees - including Dan Cooper - left to found Cooper Firearms of Montana. [1]
In the mid-1990s, Greg Warne started to get the bug to try his hand one more time to make Kimber into the vision that he and his father had when they started the firm in 1979. Luckily, much of Kimber of Oregon's original tooling had made its way to a junkyard north of Portland. Greg soon found a financial backer in Les Edelman, who owned Nationwide Sports Distributors. The two purchased the original tooling and partnered to found Kimber of America. Over the course of several years, the company grew quickly. But, Edelman forced Warne out after acquiring a majority interest in the company.
While Edelman was partnering with Greg Warne, he had also found himself investing in Yonkers-based "Jerico Precision Manufacturing", a manufacturer of hand tools and mechanical components for the defense industry, which was adjusting to cuts in defense spending. Edelman decided to connect Jerico Precision's existing infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities and Kimber's reputation and extensive network of dealers to build a line of 1911-style handguns. He eventually moved Kimber's production line to Jerico's facilities in New York thus ending Kimber's long history in Oregon.
Zachary
