NORTEK INC
EXHIBIT 10.1
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     <TD><P ALIGN="RIGHT"><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif" SIZE="2">Exhibit
10.1</FONT></P></TD>
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     <TD><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif" SIZE="2"><B>FOURTH AMENDMENT TO THE NORTEK, INC.</B></FONT></TD></TR>
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     <TD><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif" SIZE="2"><B>SUPPLEMENTAL EXECUTIVE RETIREMENT PLAN</B></FONT></TD></TR>
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     <TD><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2">WHEREAS,
Nortek, Inc. (the "Company") adopted the Nortek, Inc. Supplemental Executive Retirement
Plan (the "Plan") effective January 1, 1996; and</FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT> </P></TD>
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     <TD><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2">WHEREAS,
the Plan provides that the Board may, from time to time, amend said Plan provided that
such amendment does not reduce the accrued benefit of any participant.</FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT> </P></TD>
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     <TD><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2">NOW,
THEREFORE, effective as of the date of this Amendment, the Plan is hereby amended and
revised to read as follows:</FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT> </P></TD>
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<FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.
The following language should be added to the end of Section 5.3(b):</FONT></FONT> </P></TD>
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     <TD><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2">&#147;(b).
If, at the request of the Company, a Participant defers his retirement beyond his Normal
Retirement Date and dies prior to his actual retirement leaving a surviving Spouse, the
surviving Spouse&#146;s benefit payable for Spouse&#146;s life shall be equal to the
actuarial equivalent (calculated using mortality table and interest rate set forth in
Schedule D) of the retirement benefit that would have been payable to the Participant at
his Normal Retirement Date.&#148;</FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT> </P></TD>
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<FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.
Section 5.5 entitled "Other Benefits" is hereby amended to read as follows:</FONT></FONT> </P></TD>
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     <TD><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2">&#147;Section
5.5. Lump-Sum Payments and Other Benefits. Except as otherwise provided in Article VI,
the benefit with respect to a Participant who ceases to be an Employee for any reason
other than Retirement with the consent of the Company, Disability or death, may not
commence prior to his Normal Retirement Date. However, at the time that a benefit would
otherwise commence under this Article V, the Administrator, in its sole discretion, but
only upon the written request of a Plan Participant (or Spouse as the case may be), may
authorize the payment of benefits in the form of a single lump-sum payment equal to the
then present value of the Participant&#146;s accrued benefit under the Plan (or the Spouse&#146;s
survivor benefit under the Plan, as the case may be), as computed using the actuarial
assumptions stated in Schedule D hereto.</FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT> </P></TD>
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     <TD><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2">If,
at the request of the Company, a Participant defers his retirement beyond his Normal
Retirement Date and dies prior to his actual retirement leaving a surviving Spouse and
the Administrator, upon the written request of the surviving Spouse, authorizes the
payment of the surviving Spouse&#146;s benefit in the form of a single lump-sum, the
amount of the single lump-sum payment shall be equal to the lump-sum the Participant
would have received if he were to retire effective the first day of the month during
which the death occurred.&#148;</FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT> </P></TD>
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<FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;IN
WITNESS WHEREOF, the Company has caused this Fourth Amendment to be executed this thirteenth
day of July, 2001.</FONT></FONT> </P></TD>
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     <TD><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2">NORTEK, INC.</FONT></FONT></TD></TR>
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     <TD><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2">&nbsp;</FONT></FONT></TD></TR>
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     <TD><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2">By:</FONT></FONT></TD></TR>
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     <TD><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2">&nbsp;</FONT></FONT></TD></TR>
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     <TD><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif"><FONT SIZE="2"><U>/S/ Richard J. Harris&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</U></FONT></FONT></TD></TR>
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