Charles Clark

Charles Clark was born in Theresa, New York, on August 24, 1844, to Luther and Theda Tamblin Clark. When he was nine years old, his father died. Two years later, Charley, as he was known to family and friends, moved to Neenah, Wisconsin, with his widowed mother.

On the day of his arrival, the 11-year-old, desperately in need of work, applied for a job at Robert Hold’s lath and furniture factory. He was told there were no openings, but as he looked around at all the men and boys at work, he argued that there must be something he could do. Mr. Hold, impressed with Charley’s spunk, asked his foreman to find a spot for the boy. Luckily, a workman had just quit, so Mr. Hold told the boy that he could start work bending chairs the next morning. Charley asked if he could start immediately and Mr. Hold agreed. His wage was $7.00 a month.

Mr. Clark’s self-confidence pushed him to the top in every situation he encountered. In August 1862, the 18-year-old enlisted as a private in the 21st Regiment of the Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. He fought in a series of Civil War clashes, beginning with the Battle of Chaplin Hills in October 1862. He marched from Atlanta to the sea with the army of William Tecumseh Sherman. He quickly rose through the ranks to first lieutenant and finally captain. After Captain Clark was mustered out on June 17, 1865, he returned to Neenah and partnered with H. P. Leavens in a hardware store.

In 1867, Mr. Clark married Caroline Hubbard of Neenah, and the couple eventually had three children — one son and two daughters.

In 1872, the 28-year-old veteran recruited John Alfred Kimberly to join him in building a paper mill, subsequently known as the Globe Mill. This led to the creation of a partnership known as Kimberly, Clark and Company. Because they needed more capital, Mr. Clark sought out two additional partners, Havilah Babcock and Frank C. Shattuck. Mr. Clark’s equity in the venture was $10,000; Mr. Kimberly’s $7,000; Mr. Babcock’s $7,000; and Mr. Shattuck’s $6,000.

The founders agreed on a basic operating policy that encompassed the following principles: manufacture the best possible product; serve customers well and deal fairly to gain their confidence and good will; deal fairly with employees; expand capacity as demand for product justifies; and finance expansion out of earnings.

In 1889, after eight years in business, the company was incorporated with capital stock of $400,000 — all of it from earnings.

Mr. Clark, along with John Alfred Kimberly, kept his fingers on every aspect of the growing business. Mr. Clark was considered a born leader and a tireless builder and manager. He directed mill operations and related activities. Mr. Kimberly oversaw sales and finances.

Kimberly, Clark and Company’s early strategy combined entrepreneurial marketing and management with aggressive expansion. In 1874, after two years in business, the company purchased the Red Mill, which was later demolished and rebuilt as the Neenah Mill. In 1876, the company expanded the Globe Mill with the purchase of the company’s first Fourdrinier machine, which produced finished paper in a continuous roll.

In 1878, the company built Atlas Paper Company, a brick pulp and paper facility in Appleton, twice the size of the other two mills. Atlas specialized in fancy manila wrapping paper and eventually produced printing paper, bond paper, photo album paper, and colored papers. Although it lacked university trained scientists and a laboratory, Atlas achieved a reputation for innovative products, including toilet paper and related processes. It was the first mill in the state to produce paper made largely from ground or mechanical wood pulp.

Over the years, more mills were added at a rapid pace. A new mill was built in the wilderness east of Appleton, and since there were no facilities for the company employees who would be relocating, the company carved out a social and business community that could accommodate them. Farm land and water power rights were acquired along the Fox River; cinder roads and plank sidewalks were laid out; a hotel and 60 houses were built; and additional lots were sold for housing. The result was the village of Kimberly, where the company built a state-of-the-art, three-machine print mill; a 25-ton groundwood pulp mill; a 3-ton sulfite pulp mill; and a 10-ton straw wrapping paper mill.

Mr. Clark was a member of the Neenah City Council and also served as mayor of the city. He was elected to the Wisconsin General Assembly in 1884. In 1886, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served until 1890. Soon after retiring from Congress, Mr. Clark became ill. In September 1891, while visiting his childhood home in Theresa, New York, Mr. Clark died. He was 47 years old.

Roy Whitney

Roy C. Whitney was born in Milo, Maine, on May 30, 1913. He completed his elementary and high school education in Milo. After graduation, he enrolled in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering in 1935. In 1937, he was awarded his master of science degree.

From 1936 to 1941 he was assistant director and then director, Bangor Station, School of Chemical Engineering Practice, located in what was then the Eastern Corporation pulp and paper plant, Brewer, Maine. He was an assistant professor of chemical engineering from 1939 until 1945, the year he earned his doctorate in chemical engineering.

Later that year, he went to work at the University of Maine in Orono as director of the department of industrial cooperation, followed by professor and acting head of the department of chemical engineering.

In 1947, Dr. Whitney joined The Institute of Paper Chemistry, Appleton, Wisconsin, as professor of chemical engineering and remained with the Institute until his retirement in 1979. During that time, he was also a research associate and group leader in chemical engineering and dean of the Institute. From 1958 to 1977, he was vice president of Academic Affairs; in 1977 he was vice president and assistant to the president; and in 1978, assistant to the president. Dr. Whitney retired in 1979 and is professor emeritus of chemical engineering. Upon his retirement, he was awarded an honorary Ad Eundum degree from Lawrence University on behalf of The Institute of Paper Chemistry.

Dr. Whitney’s most outstanding contribution to the pulp and paper industry was insuring a continuous flow of outstanding young men and women, principally in positions of research, development, production, and managerial leadership. The Institute of Paper Chemistry was recognized as the worldwide center of graduate education and research in areas related to the industry. He made certain that its position in this regard was secure. He was aware of the importance of information availability, and the Institute made important contributions through publication of its Abstract Bulletin and other research publications.

He was also largely responsible for the high regard with which the Institute was held in academic circles, where his expertise in engineering was greatly valued. Under his direction, research at the Institute was largely process oriented — this was important in the advances made in the fields of chemical recovery and paper machine design.

Dr. Whitney also made significant contributions to the paper industry at large throughout his career by providing high-level technical leadership. Industry representatives consulted Dr. Whitney regularly. His contributions have been most notable in the areas of chemical and energy recovery, forming, and drying. Applications have led to improved paper machine design and improved operations. Results of both academic and cooperative research at The Institute of Paper Chemistry were shared promptly through publications with supporting organizations, and subsequently with the industry worldwide.

Dr. Whitney’s professional society activities have included Fellow, American Institute of Chemical Engineers; Fellow, Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry; TAPPI activities include chairman, engineering research committee, 1941-1943; chairman, chemical engineering committee, 1946-1948; chairman, fundamental research committee, 1958 -1961; general chairman, research and development division, 1962-1965; member, long range planning committee, 1968; member, board of directors, 1969-1972; Fellow, American Institute of Chemists; member, American Chemical Society; member, executive committee, Cellulose, Paper and Textiles Division, 1975-1981; chairman-elect, 1977, and chairman 1978, Cellulose, Paper, and Textiles Division; member, American Society for Engineering Education; and member, Alpha Chi Sigma, Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi.

Dr. Whitney received national awards from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and from TAPPI. He is one of two non-Finnish recipients of the Pro Bono Labor Award of the Finnish Paper Engineers Association. He was awarded the TAPPI Medal in 1980.

Dr. Whitney and his wife, Virginia, raised two children. After his retirement, the Whitneys continued to live in Appleton, Wisconsin. A life long interest was photography and photo finishing. He especially enjoyed producing large prints in either black and white or color. Dr. Whitney also felt Wisconsin was a good place to hunt and fish, additional life long interests.

Robert Williams

Robert C. Williams was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on January 24, 1930. He graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1953 and from Xavier University with a masters in business administration in 1957. He also attended the University of Richmond, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Harvard Business School. While a student, he worked as a co-op engineer with Gardner Board and Carton Company in Middleton, Ohio. In 1955 and 1956, he was a special student at The Institute of Paper Chemistry in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Following his graduation in 1953, he went to work for Garner Division of Diamond International Corporation, where he held various technical and supervisory positions. He left there in 1959 to head the research department at Albemarle Paper Company. He later became vice president of research and development, planning and budgeting, and industrial engineering.

His association with Brenton Halsey and their formation of James River Corporation was soon well known throughout the industry when they distinguished themselves as innovative leaders.

Creative use of leveraged financing was the basis for most of the more than 50 acquisitions that led to James River’s phenomenal growth to become (for a short period), the largest paper company in the world. Although the term “leveraged buy-out” was not coined until the 1980s, this is exactly what the two partners were using many years earlier.

Most of James River’s acquisitions, especially in the 1970s and early 1980s, consisted of poorly performing or nonstrategic operations for their previous owners; often, they were older facilities that were deemed noncompetitive. James River became widely known for its ability to turn around poorly performing assets. For each acquisition, a plan was developed to turn the to-be-acquired assets into profitable operations. Among each plan’s component was a thorough evaluation of personnel and a detailed program to upgrade the product mix while reducing cost. Again, the partners were using a technique now known as “organizational reengineering” long before the term became popular in the business press.

All acquisitions were friendly; in fact, many of the previous owners helped in financing the purchase of many of the early James River mills. In almost all cases, the people from previous owners’ mills or divisions joined James River and continued to manage new operations and programs.

The founders of James River were avid proponents of the use of good science and technology in business, and they especially pushed product performance, the use of creative product development, and strict quality management. They were advocates of the development of technology, not only within the company but also in industry cooperative ventures, such as with educational institutions and trade organizations.

Mr. Williams and Mr. Halsey felt strongly that all employees should have an opportunity to benefit from James River’s success and that a feeling of ownership could be a strong motivator. Thus, they implemented a stock purchase plan for all employees; a healthy company matching contribution was included, and 75 percent of all salaried and hourly employees would participate. Their stock option program was extended to levels of management that had never before been considered. In addition, a unique profit-sharing plan for all salaried and many hourly-unionized employees was based on both the company’s success and individual and division contributions to that success. Although all of these programs are commonplace today, they were considered extremely creative at the time they were introduced in James River.

Mr. Williams’ association involvements include American Forest & Paper Association, member, executive committee; board of directors, past chairman, executive committee, Specialty Packaging & Industrial Division; and past chairman, Pulp Producers Executive Board. He is past chairman of the board of trustees for both the Institute of Paper Science and Technology and past chairman of the Miami University Paper Science and Engineering School Foundation. Mr. Williams is also a TAPPI Fellow.

In 1983, Mr. Williams was presented the Distinguished Alumni Award, Xavier University; and the Distinguished Alumni Award, University of Cincinnati, in 1984. In 1985, he received the Paper Industry Management Association (PIMA) Man of the Year Award.

Mr. Williams served as president and chief operating officer of James River for 20 years and then as chairman, president, and chief executive officer until his retirement in 1996. He and his wife, Barbara, raised two children. Their residence, Lioncrest, is on a small farm on the James River near Maidens, Virginia, west of Richmond. Mr. Williams enjoys hunting, fishing, golf, tennis, designing houses, reading books, and working on community projects.

Peter Wrist

Peter E. Wrist was born in Mirfield, England, on October 9, 1927. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in physics and mathematics at St. Catharine College, Cambridge University, in 1948, followed by a master’s degree in 1952. Also in 1952, he earned a master of science degree in crystallography from London University, Birkbeck College.

He began his career as a research physicist for the British Paper and Board Industry Research Association in Kenley, England. He left there in 1952 to join Quebec North Shore Paper Company as a research physicist. Between 1956 and 1983, Dr. Wrist worked for Mead Corporation, first in Chillicothe and later in Dayton. He began as a research physicist and progressively moved through the ranks until he assumed the position of vice president, technology in 1972, a position he held for 11 years.

In 1983, Dr. Wrist returned to Canada as executive vice president of the Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada (PAPRICAN). He retired in 1994 after serving as president and chief executive officer since 1986.

Beginning with his years in England and continuing throughout his career in Canada and the United States, Dr. Wrist did pioneering research into the heart of papermaking — the forming process. At age 27, he won his first recognition, the C. Howard Smith Gold Medal Award of the CPPA for his paper “The Papermaking Process as a Filtration Problem.” Shortly thereafter, he received the Weldon Medal.

Early in his work, he sought to determine why the table rolls of the Fourdrinier machines of the time were restricting machine speeds. From experimental observations and mathematical considerations, he invented drainage foils as replacements for table rolls. The stationary drainage elements provided a more controllable suction than table rolls and twice as many could be fitted in the same space. Foils were eventually used worldwide and led to substantial improvements in product quality and production rates. Dr. Wrist and Dr. George Burkhard also introduced new techniques for analyzing the basis weight profile of a sheet. In further efforts to achieve more efficient water removal, Dr. Wrist was the first to introduce a fabric into the nip of a wet press. Later, he and Lars Jordanson invented the fabric press, which is widely used in Europe and Japan and had a major influence on the design of today’s press felts.

During the 1970s, Dr. Wrist actively led the U.S. paper industry participation in the enactment and implementation of realistic water pollution control legislation, resulting in the “Federal Pollution Control Act Amendments” in 1972 and the “Best Conventional Technology” in the 1977 amendments to the act.

Later, while president of PAPRICAN, Dr. Wrist continued to provide outstanding leadership in environmental matters, particularly during the dioxin crisis. Under his management, several methods of reducing dioxin concentrations were developed, and within a remarkably short time, most mills in Canada were ahead of schedule in meeting the dioxin effluent regulations set by Environment Canada.

Dr. Wrist put considerable personal effort into his achievements; in addition, he augmented his efforts by developing a fruitful cooperation with others, particularly during the dioxin crisis. He also stimulated and guided research efforts through extensive committee work in conjunction with The Institute of Paper Chemistry, the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI), and the Recovery Boiler Research Program of API.

Dr. Wrist served with distinction as chairman of TAPPI’s Fluid Mechanics Committee. He is a TAPPI Fellow, and has been a board member, vice president, and president of the association. He received the Engineering Division Award in 1969; and the Gunnar Nicholson Gold Medal in 1983. He has been a member of CPPA since 1952 and received the John S. Bates Memorial Gold Medal in 1996. Dr. Wrist is also a member of New York Academy of Sciences. He has served on The Institute of Paper Chemistry’s advisory committee; chairman of the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement; and since 1991, he has been chairman of the prize selection committee of the prestigious Marcus Wallenberg Foundation. In 1993, Dr. Wrist received an honorary doctor of science degree from the University of British Columbia.

Dr. Wrist published 60 technical papers and holds over 30 patents on paper machine design and operation. When necessary, he has been a spokesman for the industry. He testified before the U.S. Congress a number of times to achieve responsible and effective federal regulations on industrial discharges. He was principal architect of several agreements between PAPRICAN and the Canadian government, including the Networks of Centres of Excellence program on High-Value Papers from Mechanical Pulps, and served as chairman of the board of this centre and also of the Protein Engineering Centre of Excellence.

Dr. Wrist and his wife, Mirabelle, raised four children. The couple resides in Jupiter, Florida. On a two-acre lot of former pine scrub land, he has already established a citrus orchard and a large water lily lake, complete with a replica of Monet’s Japanese bridge. In addition to gardening, he continues to enjoy boating with his grandchildren, although his sailboat has been replaced by a power boat.

Joseph Atchison

Joseph Atchison was born on Christmas Day, 1914, in Barnum, West Virginia. One of three children, Mr. Atchison grew up in Elk Garden, West Virginia, where he attended a three-year high school. After completing his high school education at Kitzmiller, Maryland, he attended Massanutten Military Academy in Woodstock, Virginia, for one year to study a foreign language and physics. This prepared him for entrance into Louisiana State University, from which he graduated in 1938 with a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering. In 1940, he graduated from The Institute of Paper Chemistry in Appleton, Wisconsin, with a master of science degree, followed in 1942 by a doctorate in pulp and paper technology.

Between 1942 and 1946, Dr. Atchison served in the United States Army, during which time he advanced from 1st. Lt. to Lt. Colonel. He returned to civilian life in 1946, and joined John Strange Paper Co. as technical director. He left that position in 1948 to work with the Marshall Plan as chief of the Pulp and Paper Branch. In 1952, he worked as mill manager and director of a bagasse pulping pilot plant for Portican Paper Products Company. Between 1953 and 1967, Dr. Atchison served as vice president and senior vice president in charge of the Pulp and Paper Project Division of Parsons and Whittemore, Inc. In 1967, he established Joseph E. Atchison Consultants, Inc. and Atchison Consultants, Inc. and is president and owner.

Dr. Atchison is an internationally-recognized and widely-published authority on the utilization of nonwood plant fibers for papermaking. He has provided the process design for many mills that use bagasse, straw, reeds, esparto grass, bamboo, and other nonwood fibers. He has also played a key role in the development and implementation of 40 mills in 25 countries, based on the utilization of such raw materials. An early proponent of recycling, he wrote a 400-page book on the subject. He also wrote a 600-page book on the potential use of kenaf as a raw material in papermaking. In addition, he has presented over 140 papers, many of which have been published worldwide in 50 technical magazines, Technical Association Proceedings, and United Nations publications and books.

His contributions have played a key role in the dramatic worldwide expansion of the non-wood pulping capacity for papermaking from 9.3 million tons in 1975 to more than 24 million tons in 1998. In the case of bagasse alone, his technical contributions have resulted in expanding the pulping capacity from fewer than 100,000 tons in 1950 to more than three million tons in 1998.

An active member of the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI), Dr. Atchison established the TAPPI nonwood plant fiber committee and served as chairman for the first eleven years. He was active on the by-product committee of the International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (ISSCT) for 50 years. He has also been a member of American Chemical Society; American Institute of Chemical Engineers; technical section of Canadian Pulp and Paper Association; Indian Pulp and Paper Technical Association; Technical Association of the Australian and New Zealand Pulp and Paper Industry; American-Arab Association for Commerce and Industry; New Uses Council; American Kenaf Society; and United Nations Association of the United States. He served on the Task Group of the President’s Commission on Increased Use of Agricultural Products and as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Pulp and Paper Committee of the International Materials Conference during the Korean War.

In 1974, Mr. Atchison was awarded the TAPPI Pulp Manufacture Division Award. He became a TAPPI Fellow in 1978 and was honored with the Leadership and Service Award of the Pulp and Manufacture Division in 1990. In 1996, he received the prestigious TAPPI Gunnar Nicholson Gold Medal Award. Over the years, Mr. Atchison has been elected to Who’s Who in American Universities and Colleges; Who’s Who in the South and Southwest; American Men and Women of Science; Leaders in American Science; Distinguished Leaders in the Nation’s Capital; Who’s Who in the East; and Who’s Who in Commerce and Industry.

Dr. Atchison and his wife, Betty Jean, reside in Long Boat Key, Florida. In his free time he enjoys tennis, fitness exercise, dancing, traveling, and theater.

Hugh Chisholm

Hugh J. Chisholm was born on May 2, 1847, in Chippewa, Ontario, Canada, the fifth of ten children. His formal education was cut short at age 13 when his father died and he began helping to support his family. His first job was digging potatoes, during which he had a lot of time to think. After two days, he realized there wasn’t much of a future in the fields of Ontario. A week later he had a new job selling newspapers on the sooty, red-plush trains running from Detroit to Toronto. Another boy about the same age had a similar job. He was Thomas A. Edison, who was later to become one of America’s foremost inventors. The two young men became lifelong friends. After several years as an entrepreneur, Mr. Chisholm used $50 to enroll in a night course at a Toronto business college.

Mr. Chisholm felt that the distribution of newspapers and magazines could be handled more efficiently through a business organization specifically set up for that purpose. While still in his teens, Mr. Chisholm went into partnership with his brother, Charles. They distributed newspapers on trains running from Chicago to Portland and Halifax. They soon added steamboats on the St. Lawrence River to their franchise. In a few years, they controlled newspaper and magazine distribution rights on more than 5,000 miles of rail and steamship lines and had more than 200 uniformed employees. The Chisholm brothers also began to publish tourist and souvenir travel books and America’s first postcards, which, after the simplification of photography in 1880, began featuring half-tone photographs.

Mr. Chisholm’s first venture into the field of pulp and paper was the acquisition of an early patent for making wood-fibre ware (articles made of wood fiber). This was followed by the organization of the Somerset Fibre Company at Fairfield on the Kennebec River in 1870.

In 1872, he sold his interest in the newspaper distribution business to his brother. He moved to Portland, Maine, became a United States citizen, and married Henrietta Mason. He lived the remainder of his life in Portland and New York City.

Mr. Chisholm was a visionary with talents for conceiving, designing, organizing, implementing, and managing business enterprises. Other entrepreneurial ventures between the years 1870 and 1898 included founding and serving as president for Umbagog Pulp Company; Otis Falls Pulp and Paper Co.; Livermore Falls Iron Foundry; Rumford Falls Power Company; Portland & Rumford Falls Railroad; Rumford Falls Paper Company; Rumford Falls Sulfite Company; Rumford Falls & Rangely Lakes Railroad; and subsequently, along with two associates, International Paper Company.

The formation of International Paper Company brought together 17 pulp and paper mills in New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Canada. Widely considered the most powerful man of his time in the American pulp and paper industry, Mr. Chisholm was the primary founder and served as the company’s president from 1898 to 1907, and chairman until 1910. Through his energy and drive, he helped the company gain control of 60 percent of the American newsprint market. His skillful financial management enabled the company to post significant profits throughout its early years. With a daily output of 1,300 tons of paper and $45 million of capital stock, International Paper was by far the world’s largest paper manufacturer. The journey from leading a two ton per day mill to heading a 1,300 ton per day corporation is a testimonial to Mr. Chisholm’s leadership and entrepreneurial capabilities.

During his tenure, he initiated International Paper’s first forest management program. In 1901, he issued instructions forbidding the harvest of immature trees. He also forged a close relationship with Yale University’s forestry program, in which faculty and students helped the company select trees for cutting, thus paving the way for the industry standard of sustainable forest management principles.

In 1899, Mr. Chisholm opened Continental Bag Company in Rumford. Also that year, he organized a group of investors to build Oxford Paper Company for the production of high-quality paper for publication of fine books and magazines. Shortly after operations began in 1901, Oxford won a valuable contract to manufacture all the postcards used by the U.S. Post Office. The cards were produced at a rate of three million per day. Oxford’s first two paper machines produced 44 tons of paper a day. At the time of Mr. Chisholm’s death in 1912, the company had grown to an eight-machine mill producing 63,000 tons of pulp and 44,000 tons of paper annually. The venture became the largest bookpaper mill in the world under one roof.

Mr. Chisholm made tremendous personal contributions to the growth of the American paper industry through determination, a superb visionary ability, outstanding financial ingenuity, and his undying entrepreneurial spirit. He had the ability to envision, plan, and conceive business ventures and then assemble the financial resources and quality personnel to make the project successful.

With his interests in paper companies, water companies, banks, steamboats, and railroads, Mr. Chisholm was the dominant industrialist figure in Maine, as well as a true American giant of industry. Several years prior to his death, Mr. Chisholm was awarded an honorary master of arts degree from Bowdoin College; posthumously, he was honored by the American Newcomen Society in 1952.

The Chisholms raised one son, Hugh, Jr., who assumed the presidency of Oxford Paper Company in 1912. William Chisholm, the son of Hugh Chisholm, Jr., followed his father as president of the company.

George Mead

George W. Mead was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on October 11, 1927; he was one of three children. In 1946, he finished his preparatory education at Hotchkiss, a private boarding school in Connecticut. In 1950, he graduated from Yale University with a bachelor of science degree followed in 1952 with a master of science degree from The Institute of Paper Chemistry, Appleton, Wisconsin.

Mr. Mead joined Consolidated Papers, Inc. as a chemical engineer in 1952. During his career, he progressed through the ranks, serving in the positions of production manager, corporate quality manager, and vice president of operations. His steady advancement through the company was in keeping with Mr. Mead’s feeling that he needed to “double-pay” his dues as the grandson, and later the son, of the company president. He was elected president in 1966 and has been chairman of the board since 1971.

Consolidated is known as a premier producer of coated and supercalendered printing papers that are used in magazines, books, brochures, advertising, and corporate annual reports. The company also makes coated specialty papers for product packaging and labeling, paperboard products, corrugated products, paperboard, and kraft and recycled pulp.

Consolidated Papers became a successful and innovative company, with many new technologies implemented and invented under Mr. Mead’s leadership. Approximately 49 U. S. patents covering technological advances in the pulp and paper industry have been issued, as well as 30 foreign patents, many being in the European Patent Convention countries, as well as Canada, Brazil, and Mexico.

Significant patents used at Consolidated, and worldwide, are for the application of coatings on printing and writing grades of paper. These include the Short Dwell Time Applicator (to speed up the coating process) and the JetFlow Applicator (a way of applying hot air flow from behind the sheet to speed up drying time).

In addition to being technically innovative, Consolidated, under Mr. Mead’s tenure, has earned recognition as one of the best U.S. paper companies. The Gallagher Report, a newsletter for managers, honored Mr. Mead as one of the ten best executives of 1984 for companies with less than $1 billion in sales. Mr. Mead led the way in the company’s modernization effort, a two-for-one stock split, and a 70 percent improvement in earnings for the first nine months of 1984. By 1996, sales expanded by a factor of 13, capacity tripled, and profits in 1995 were 21 times greater than when Mr. Mead became president in 1966.

While the culture of Consolidated emanates from the top, each employee is made to feel he or she shares in the company’s success. Mr. Mead embodies the view that hard work, sacrifice, willingness to compromise, quality, and service will achieve positive results. Active in several industry associations, Mr. Mead currently serves on the board of directors of the American Forest & Paper Association. He is immediate past chairman of the AF&PA Environmental and Health Program. He is also past chairman and a member of the board of governors and the executive committee of the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement. He is a trustee and past chairman of the board of trustees of the Institute of Paper Science and Technology (formerly The Institute of Paper Chemistry) and is a TAPPI Fellow. Mr. Mead is on the board of directors of several other corporations, including Snap-on Incorporated and Thiele Kaolin.

In 1987, a poll of sell-side security analysts voted Consolidated the best-managed paper company. Mr. Mead was chosen Papermaker of the Year in 1986 by the Paper Industry Management Association (PIMA) and again in 1990 by PaperAge Magazine. In 1994, he received the Herman Louis Joachim Award for Excellence in Management from the Syracuse Pulp and Paper Foundation. In 1998, PIMA named Consolidated “Company of the Year,” citing it for business management and environmental leadership.

Mr. Mead has three grown children by a previous marriage. He and his wife, Susan, whom he married in 1990, live on an island in the middle of the Wisconsin River in Wisconsin Rapids. Mr. Mead is an avid skier and tennis player.

Frank Sensenbrenner

Frank J. Sensenbrenner was born in Menasha, Wisconsin, on December 23, 1864. He was educated through the eighth grade in public and parochial schools. His first job was as a grocery store clerk in 1878, followed by a postal clerk in the Menasha Post Office in 1879. Between 1880 and 1884, Mr. Sensenbrenner worked as a bookkeeper for the Menasha Chair Company, and then for John Strange Lumber and Saw Mill until 1888, when he joined Webster Manufacturing Company. In 1889 he went to work for Kimberly-Clark & Company, again as a bookkeeper.

When the firm was reorganized in 1907, Mr. Sensenbrenner became a stockholder and rose successively through the ranks to president and chief executive officer of the corporation, a position he held from 1928 to 1942. Although John A. Kimberly retained the title of president until his death in 1928, Mr. Sensenbrenner, as first vice president, actually ran the company through the teens and most of the ’20s, until he was officially elected president in 1928. He was chairman of the board until 1944 and remained a director until 1952.

Under Mr. Sensenbrenner’s leadership, Kimberly-Clark grew from a small company to a multi-state and Canadian operation. In 1907, the company acquired the assets of the Atlas Paper Company and the Tellulah Company in Appleton, Wisconsin. Two years later, K-C and William Bonifas organized Bonifas Lumber Company in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and purchased large stands of hemlock and spruce. In 1912, K-C acquired Bonifas Lumber.

In 1915, the Globe Mill, Neenah, was rebuilt, terminating K-C’s production of newsprint in reaction to a 1911 U.S.-Canadian treaty that allowed Canada to ship newsprint into the United States duty free. The rebuilt mill began producing Cellucotton, K-C’s trade-marked name for absorbent wadding used as a substitute for cotton surgical dressings.

In the same year, a pulp mill was built at Kimberly, Wisconsin, to make refined bleached groundwood and double the capacity of the electrolytic chlorine and caustic soda plant already there. After these changes, the Kimberly mill began using sulfite and bleached groundwood pulp to make bookpapers – the first mill in the U.S. to utilize this type of furnish. For a period of years, almost all rotogravure printing in the U.S. was done on groundwood paper from K-C’s Kimberly and Niagara, New York, mills.

In 1920, K-C marketed its first consumer product, Kotex feminine pads, through the International Cellucotton Products Company. Four years later, the company began to market Kleenex facial tissue. K-C was the first to market these unique products. K-C stayed the course when initial sales were disappointing due to social taboos and retail resistance. The company allotted unusually high levels of advertising money, for that time, to make each product a byword in the industry.

In partnership with the New York Times, Spruce Falls Power and Paper Company Ltd., Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, was formed in 1928 at a cost of $16 million. K-C owned 51 percent, and the newspaper owned 49 percent. By 1930, the mill was producing 650 tons of newsprint for the New York Times and 17 other newspapers. A sulfite pulp mill, which produced 150 tons per day, and a 75,000 horsepower hydroelectric plant also began production. A planned community was then built around the complex.

In 1929, the Lakeview Mill, Neenah, WI, was purchased from Sears, Roebuck & Co. to produce school and specialty papers. During the Depression years, 1930 – 1935, K-C grew from 2,836 employees (excluding Spruce Falls) to 4,067, while sales fell only 7 percent from $21.8 million in 1929 to $20.3 million in 1935. Lower prices were responsible for the reduction, although at the Atlas Mill, Appleton, the number of tons shipped increased. During this time, the production of wallpaper was improved through four-color rotogravure printing, washable surface, and register embossing.

Between 1942 and 1944, the Ordnance Division of Kimberly-Clark, located in the Kimlark plant, Neenah, WI, assembled M-45 automatic antiaircraft guns utilizing 2,000 parts from subcontractors in five states. The U.S. Army’s production schedule was met or exceeded each month, and the only gun returned for repairs was one that fell from an Army truck during a parade. Also in 1944, the Ordnance Division began a contract to assemble the M48A2 point detonating fuse. An Army-Navy E was awarded to K-C in June 1944 in recognition of K-C’s production record.

Mr. Sensenbrenner was one of the founders of the Wisconsin Manufacturers Association and was a director from 1911 to 1945. Education was of particular importance to him: he was a trustee of Lawrence University; member, Board of Governors, Marquette University; member, Lay Advisory Board, St. Norbert College; president and member, Board of Regents, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Mr. Sensenbrenner’s contributions to the paper industry were widely recognized; in addition, he received many awards for his contributions to civic and educational organizations. He received honorary doctor of law degrees from Marquette University, St. Norbert College, and the University of Wisconsin. He was made a Knight Commander of the order of St. Gregory for distinguished service to church and state by The Vatican; and was recognized for work in human relations by the National Conference of Jews and Christians, Wisconsin Region. He received an award for distinguished service as a resident of a state in the Northwest Territory, Northwestern University; and in 1960, he was inducted into the Wisconsin Industrial Hall of Fame.

Mr. Sensenbrenner and his wife, Margaret, who died in 1912, had four children, John, Gertrude (Bergstrom), Margaret (Gilbert), and J. Leslie. Throughout his life, F. J. Sensenbrenner lived in Neenah or Menasha, WI.

Brenton Halsey

Brenton S. Halsey was born April 8, 1927, in Newport News, Virginia. In 1945, he graduated from The Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, and entered the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point. Between 1947 and 1951 he attended the University of Virginia and earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. Following graduation, he joined the United States Navy, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet, and served in the Korean Theatre. In 1957, he attended The Institute of Paper Chemistry, Appleton, Wisconsin. Between 1953 and 1969, Mr. Halsey worked for the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company as a process development engineer; assistant technical director, director of research and development, and vice president – planning for Albemarle Paper Company, Richmond, Virginia; and general manager and president of Interstate Bag Company, Inc., Walden, New York, a subsidiary of the Ethyl Corporation.

In 1969, Mr. Halsey joined forces with Robert Williams, who worked for Albemarle Paper Manufacturing Corporation as vice president for research. Borrowing all they could, they engineered a $1.5 million leveraged buy-out of the money-losing paper bag company from Ethyl. Thus, James River Corporation was founded. The partners profitably shifted the company’s primary output from commodity kraft to automotive air-filter papers selling for twice as much per ton. From then on, they continued to buy factories fitted with machines too slow and too small for commodity production and converted their output to specialty products for which the sturdy old machines were still well suited.

Mr. Halsey was chief executive officer and chairman of the company until 1992. Under his and Mr. Williams’ joint leadership, James River grew from $4 million in sales to over $7 billion per year. This growth was accomplished through a strategy of acquisition and internal growth. Creative financing, reengineering of acquired organizations, attention to the integration of many cultures into James River, and an extreme focus on customers successfully drove James River’s growth. These methods were developed and used before they became popular in business publications in the 1980s and 1990s.

He was a dynamic leader as well as a doer. He built and motivated strong organizations. Through James River’s documented “Strategy Statement and Values and Beliefs,” the top management clearly communicated the company’s strategy and expectations to all employees. Throughout his period of leadership, Mr. Halsey was also personally involved with many aspects of the business, especially finance, planning, and acquisition.

An integral part of the two partners’ success was hard work, six days a week. Starting out with a crushing debt-equity ratio of 3:1, they never got in the habit of throwing money at problems. They personally designed James River’s logo, and for years worked right in the factory, yards from rumbling forklifts. They took the company public in 1973. Seven years later, with thousands of products ranging from green confetti for Easter baskets to sophisticated filters for jet fuel, it commanded roughly 17 percent of the specialty market. James River had revenues of $6 million in its first year. In 1984, there were 23 other mills, 21,000 employees, and $2.2 billion in sales. The company’s success story was well known throughout the American business community, and its dynamic leaders were as close to celebrity status as anyone in the U.S. pulp and paper industry. The company ranked 153rd in Fortune’s April 1986 survey and employed 35,000 people, 75 percent of whom owned stock in the company. In 1990, annual sales were approximately $7 billion.

Mr. Halsey has given generously of his time to numerous professional and civic organizations. For these efforts, he has received many honors and awards, including an honorary doctor of humane letters, St. Paul’s College; Fellow, Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry; Member, The Raven Society, University of Virginia; Paper Industry Management Association Man of the Year Award, 1985; William and Mary College Business Medallion Award, 1985; University of Virginia, Virginia Engineering Foundation, Distinguished Alumnus Award, 1991; National Conference of Christians and Jews, Humanitarian Award, 1992; Central Richmond’s Award for Leadership and Achievement, 1995.

He currently serves on the board of directors of Neenah Corporation; Plainwell Paper Company; Advanced Cast Products; Robert Bryan, Ltd.; chairman the board of trustees of The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Inc., Monticello; and trustee of The Mariner’s Museum; and the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration.

Mr. Halsey is a member of the Country Club of Virginia; the Commonwealth Club; Fishing Bay Yacht Club, past Commodore; and New York Yacht Club.

Mr. Halsey and his wife, Lindsay, raised four children. The couple resides in Richmond. In his free time, Mr. Halsey enjoys ocean sailboat racing.

William Buchanan

William Buchanan was born January 11, 1903, in Appleton, Wisconsin. In 1924, he received a bachelor of arts degree from Dartmouth College, and in 1926, he received a master’s in business administration from Harvard Business School. Also in 1926, he began his professional career with Appleton Wire Works as sales manager. Twelve years later in 1938, he was elected president of the company.

Mr. Buchanan’s primary contribution to the paper industry was the successful development of Appleton Wire Works from a relatively small regional supplier of Fourdrinier wires in the 1920s to the largest and most successful manufacturer of forming fabrics. This success led to the subsequent consolidation of Appleton Wire Works and Albany Felt Company, which became Albany International, the world’s largest manufacturer of paper machine clothing.

Mr. Buchanan was constantly developing and promoting advances in Fourdrinier wires to allow the papermaker to make better paper at higher speeds and lower costs. Examples include the welded seam, which replaced hand-sewn seams; the staggered weave, which eliminated the problem of wires hanging or freezing to the suction boxes; and finally, the monofilament forming fabric, which made today’s high-speed paper machines possible. He was granted several patents on Fourdrinier wires, the most important being a method for seaming metal wires.

In addition to his technical abilities, Mr. Buchanan had an uncanny knack for recognizing and motivating talented people. This was true whether it was someone on the shop floor or in management. He also knew them all by name.

Anyone who knew Mr. Buchanan considered him a success by any measure. He took a modest legacy and multiplied it many times, assuring his family’s prosperity and providing a solid base for the coming generations. He enjoyed the respect and devotion of a wide-ranging group of associates, from hourly shop workers to the heads of Fortune 500 companies. His gifts were self evident: financial acumen, an eye for talent, the ability to lead, and a deft personal touch. He conducted his business career according to principles that are available to everyone: commit yourself; grow, but carefully; hire good people, give them clear direction, and let them grow; listen and decide; never look back; never underestimate the value of common sense; and repay your good fortune.

Mr. Buchanan became a leading philanthropist in the Fox Valley, giving generously of his time and money to private colleges, particularly Lawrence University and Dartmouth College. His generosity was motivated by a deep and abiding gratitude.

During his lifetime, he served on the board of directors of Northern Paper Mills; Marathon Corporation; American Can; Chicago Northwestern Railroad; Girldings and Lewis; Employers Mutual of Wausau; and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance. He also served as chairman of the board of trustees for Lawrence University and served on the board of trustees for Dartmouth College. In addition, he contributed his time and talents to the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance; Appleton Chamber of Commerce; Appleton Memorial Hospital; and the Appleton YMCA.

Mr. Buchanan was a member of the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI); Paper Industry Superintendents Association; and Paper Industry Management Association.

Both Lawrence University and Dartmouth College bestowed upon him honorary degrees, and he was awarded the Distinguished Citizen Award, Appleton, Wisconsin.

Mr. Buchanan was elected chairman of the board for Albany International. In 1968, he elected to step down when he reached the age of 70. He remained active well into his eighties, visiting the Fox Valley office every morning during his months in Wisconsin, and he continued to chair the company’s annual meetings.

Mr. Buchanan died on February 12, 1993, one month after his 90th birthday. His widow, Josephine, continues to live in Appleton, WI.

Philip Nethercut

Philip Nethercut was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, on April 3, 1921. In 1942, he earned a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin, where he was valedictorian of his class. This was followed by a master of science degree from The Institute of Paper Chemistry, Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1944. After receiving his master’s degree, Dr. Nethercut joined the U.S. Navy, where he served on combat duty in the Pacific Theater. After the war, he returned to the Institute, where he earned his doctorate.

Before joining the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) in 1957, Dr. Nethercut worked as a research chemist for Watervliet Paper Company and as a research manager for Scott Paper Company.

During his tenure as TAPPI’s executive director, Dr. Nethercut played a key role in helping volunteer leaders formulate and implement TAPPI policies. His contributions were especially significant in programs aimed at the professional development of individual members and young people early in their careers.

With his guidance, TAPPI grew in stature and importance as a major educational force in the pulp, paper, packaging, converting, and allied industries. The association continued to attract an increasing number of volunteer services of the world’s foremost engineers, scientists, and managers of these industries.

During his career with TAPPI, the association membership grew from 7,000 to 25,000. Under his leadership, the headquarter’s staff also grew to meet the greatly expanded needs of the membership. He recruited staff members with specialized skills in association operations so that volunteer leaders could concentrate on the interchange of technology rather than the mechanics of meetings or publication operations.

Dr. Nethercut was particularly active in coordinating TAPPI’s programs with those of other organizations with like interests in the United States and throughout the world. He served as a director or trustee of several pulp and paper college boards and foundations, participated in government advisory committees involved in forest product research and paper preservation, and represented TAPPI at meetings of many overseas associations.

He was the first chairman of the Technical Operations Council, giving early guidance and leadership in its development. For several years, he also chaired the Annual Meeting Committee. Dr. Nethercut was frequently TAPPI’s official representative at conferences and section meetings, providing valuable liaison between these groups and the association’s board.

His effectiveness in serving as TAPPI’s external ambassador of professional excellence was acknowledged when he received honors from several foreign associations. As the grand TAPPI and industry statesman, Dr. Nethercut was awarded both a Certificate of Merit by the Mexican Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry and a Diploma of Appreciation by the Brazilian Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry. Dr. Nethercut is a Certified Association Executive and recipient of the American Society of Association Executives’ highest honor, the ASAE Key Award. He was named a TAPP1 Fellow in 1968. He was knighted by Finland and appointed by that country to serve as Honorary Counsel in the State of Georgia in 1976. He also received the Georgia Society of Association Executives Clarke Award for Outstanding Association Executive in Georgia; and he’s listed in Who’s Who in the World.

Dr. Nethercut was a member of the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives; Canadian Pulp and Paper Association Technical Section; Finnish Paper Engineers Association; Georgia Society of Association Executives; Syracuse Pulp and Paper Foundation; and TAPPI Empire State Section.

Dr. Nethercut retired as TAPPI’s board vice chairman in 1986. He and his wife, Lee, raised three children. In 1967, they built a second home in Vermont, where they enjoyed spending their summers.  (Mr. Nethercut died in 2006)

Niilo Erik Ryti

Niilo Ryti was born in Helsinki, Finland, on September 8, 1919. He grew up in the young, independent Republic of Finland during the period between World Wars I and II. Even though he was the son of Risto Ryti, the president of Finland, he had no special privileges during World War II. Like all others, he had to defend his country against the Soviet Union and fought on the front along with other young officers. Everything, including his studies and graduation from Helsinki University of Technology, had to wait until peace was restored.

Professor Ryti earned his master of science degree in engineering in 1944 and completed his licentiate of technology degree in 1960. During his professional career, he was a production engineer for G.A. Serlachius Oy, Kangas Paper Mill, 1945-1950, and technical manager from 1950-1960; technical manager for Oy Wilh. Schauman Ab, Pietarsaari Paper Mill, 1960-1963; and professor of paper technology at Helsinki University of Technology, 1963-1977. In 1977, he joined Jaakko Poyry International Oy and served as president until 1979, when he was elected chairman and chief executive officer of Jaakko Poyry Consulting Oy. He served as a board member for the Jaakko Poyry companies until his retirement in 1983.

As professor of paper technology at Helsinki University of Technology, Dr. Ryti was in a key position to produce qualified paper engineers, therefore contributing significantly to the technological status and development of the paper industry both in Finland and worldwide. He instituted systematic postgraduate education programs in paper technology at the university, which resulted in a number of licentiates and doctors of technology. Professor Ryti wrote a textbook on paper technology that is still widely used in Finland. He was also the editor of the Handbook of Paper Manufacture, published in 1969 by the Finnish Paper Engineers Association.

Professor Ryti trained an entire generation of Finnish paper engineers, who now hold leading positions throughout the paper industry and who apply modern methods and thinking. The current high standards set by these industries is largely based on his pioneering work as a scientist and teacher.

The research and development pursued and supervised by Dr. Ryti, both at the university and in the Jaakko Poyry companies, has had a profound and long-lasting impact on the technology and economics of the industry. He was instrumental in developing the philosophy behind the pulp characterization methods that are still being used at mills all over the world to find the optimum furnish for a given papermaking process. In addition, the first mill-scale integrated groundwood mill control system, the AGMO, was developed under his guidance. Most of the current systems are based on this principle.

Professor Ryti’s work had a considerable impact on the development of papermaking machinery. His work led to the methods for analyzing the stability of paper machines based on variance component analysis, currently widely used by paper machine suppliers and papermakers. The study on formation measurement, which he supervised at the university, led to the development of a commercial formation tester now sold under the name Ambertec. Pioneering work on the application of radioactive tracing techniques for analyzing the performance of refiners and pulp chests was also done under his guidance.

While employed by the Jaakko Poyry companies, Dr. Ryti contributed to the technical progress of the industry, notably by developing and application of radioactive tracing techniques for analyzing the performance of refiners and pulp chests. He directed the study on the international competitiveness of the Finnish forest industry conducted for the Finnish Government and the Central Association of Finnish Forest Industries. As president and board member of Jaakko Poyry International, Niilo Ryti helped many companies, governments, and international institutions in the strategic planning of their forest industries.

Professor Ryti is a member of the Finnish Association of Graduate Engineers; the Finnish Paper Engineers Association; TAPPI; and the Finnish Academy of Technology.

In 1981, he received an honorary doctor’s degree from the Helsinki University of Technology and the Lampen Medal bestowed by the Finnish Paper Engineers Association; in 1969, he received the Stenback Plaque.

Despite his demanding and time-consuming work, Dr. Ryti was devoted to his wife, Anni, and their five children, until his death in 1998. His home was always open to personal friends, who enjoyed the countless professional, philosophical, and cultural discussions to which he gave a special flavor.

Milos Krofta

Milos Krofta was born in Ljubljana, capital city of Slovenia, on July 23, 1912. The region was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which became Yugoslavia after World War I. In 1992, the beautiful, partially alpine territory finally obtained its independence.

While he was in high school, Dr. Krofta decided to study mechanical engineering. He completed his bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering in Ljubljana and continued his studies in Prague, Czechoslovakia. In 1934, at age 22, he was the youngest engineering graduate in the history of the school. In Fall of that year, he began his specialization at the University for Paper Engineering in Darmstadt, West Germany. While in Prague, Dr. Krofta met his future wife, Maria Hybler. They married in 1937. The following year, he obtained his doctorate in papermaking technology.

Because Dr. Krofta’s father and uncle were financially involved in three paper mills, there was no question about his future employment, and he went to work in the largest of the mills in Yugoslavia. When Austria became part of Nazi Germany, most of the Austrians employed in Yugoslavia returned to their homeland, including the general manager of the Vevce Paper Mill where Dr. Krofta served as his assistant. Under this situation, Dr. Krofta became the general manager of all three mills at age 26. With World War I1 on the horizon, the demand for all materials and goods was so great that the mills were producing 150 tons a day — half the total demand of the entire country.

In 1941, the war reached Yugoslavia. Slovenia was split in two, with the Germans taking the north, including two of the Krofta factories, and the Italians capturing the south, where the larger mill was located. The Germans dismantled the two smaller mills, loaded the managers and workers into boxcars and transported them to Serbia. The large mill in Vevce, where Dr. Krofta remained in command, was under Italian occupation, and the region was declared the Italian Province of Ljubljana

When Italy fell in 1943, the Germans took Vevce. As one of the largest employers in the country, Dr. Krofta fought to preserve jobs and save his workers from the camps. At the end of the war in 1945, the mill was confiscated by the communists. In July, Dr. Krofta learned that he was to be arrested as a capitalist enemy of the people. Within a few hours, he decided to leave with a devoted employee, and they drove 70 miles in the only charcoal powered car to Trieste, which was under English military rule. Dr. Krofta, his wife, and two small daughters were reunited six months later.

For six years, Dr. Krofta operated successfully as a consultant in Switzerland and Italy. In 1951, when the war in Korea erupted and the Italian Communist Party made great political gains, the Kroftas immigrated to the United States.

During his managerial years in the Vevce Paper Mill, Dr. Krofta contemplated ways of reducing fiber loss, which then was not considered important. Because he believed fiber loss was substantial and pollution excessive, he began studying how to build more efficient equipment.

Dr. Krofta was an early and ardent advocate of water reuse and zero discharge. Starting in 1960, he built installations based on the dissolved air flotation principle. After several successful installations, he proved the advantages of his system. He promoted further sales through newly-founded offices in several countries. The reuse of wastewater was greatly facilitated by installing his patented flotation units, which at the same time protected the environment and reduced almost totally the use of fresh water. Nearly 3,000 Krofta flotation savealls and clarifiers are operating around the world. The principle of flotation combined with filtration is also applicable for potable water in many other industries.

Dr. Krofta was the founder of Krofta Engineering Corporation, Krofta Waters, Inc., and Lenox Institute for Water Technology, a nonprofit research and educational institution. Through his personal effort and sacrifice, combined with his leadership capabilities, he built the worldwide Krofta organization, which began as a one-man operation in 1947. During his career, Dr. Krofta published over 400 technical reports and papers and has more than 60 U.S. and foreign patents to his credit.

Dr. Krofta, a TAPPI Fellow, was also a Professional Engineer in N.E. States, and Diplomat of Academy of Environmental Engineers. He was a member of American Water Works Association, and American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and was active with the American Society of Testing Materials. He received the Five-Star Award from Pollution Engineering Magazine in 1982.

Dr. Krofta worked full time, seven days a week, until his death in 2002. He is survived by his wife, Maria, who resides in Lenox, Massachusetts.

Lawrence Sanford

Lawrence Sanford was born in Tucson, Arizona, on April 18, 1925. He played tackle on his high school football team, and it was not unusual to travel 600 miles by train to play against a team in California. He also had a special love and talent for physics, chemistry, and math. Following his high school graduation, Dr. Sanford joined the U.S. Navy, where he achieved responsibility for an advanced radar anti-aircraft aiming system.

By 1950, Dr. Sanford had earned his bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from the University of Arizona, followed by a master of science degree from Cornell University in 1951. By 1955, he had also earned his doctorate from Cornell. He joined The Proctor & Gamble Company in 1955.

During his 23 years with the paper products division, he provided outstanding leadership in paper process development. His efforts led to new papermaking processes that propelled the Charmin and Bounty brands to product superiority and category leadership.

Dr. Sanford championed and led the development of P & G’s blowthrough-drying process, which revolutionized the way low-density paper is made. The process provides a differential-density sheet with higher caliper than the conventional papermaking process. Blow-through-drying affords high-density areas that provide strength and low-density areas that provide improved absorbency. The latter was the inspiration for the ubiquitous recognition of Bounty towels as the “quicker picker-upper.”

The conventional tissue-making process involves mechanically squeezing most of the water out of the tissue web. The low-density blow-through-drying process offered the potential for huge product and economic advantages, but it was not without major technical problems and controversy. With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake and the new low-density process unproved, Dr. Sanford took charge of a team to deliver an economically justified and reliable manufacturing process.

Dr. Sanford, who holds three key U.S. patents, demonstrated the potential of the new process in a pilot plant. In addition to developing the theory and economic analysis, he persuaded the company that the risk of high capital investments was acceptable. Under his leadership, a group of engineers and scientists successfully designed full-scale paper machines and established the training of manufacturing technicians to operate the process. Because of Dr. Sanford’s determination, dedication, and leadership, the blow-through-drying process was commercialized, thereby establishing P & G as a leader in the tissue business.

Building on Dr. Sanford’s efforts, P & G improved the way it produces drying belts, allowing further improvements in both efficient fiber utilization and superior tissue-product attributes. After the expiration of the original patents on the blowthrough-drying patents, other companies adopted the process with modifications for tissue products, making it the preferred way in which the majority of premium consumer products are produced. The real winner was the consumer, who was the benefactor of greatly-superior tissue and towel products.

The process, which was commercialized during the 1970s, completely changed the platform of competition for tissue and towel consumer products by providing superior softness and absorbency in the Charmin and Bounty brands. Procter and Gamble’s products made with the blow-through-drying process account for over $2 billion in annual sales.

In recognition of his outstanding technical leadership, the company appointed Dr. Sanford associate director in 1967.

A consuming hobby of his has been growing orchids. His specimens compete on a national level, and since his retirement from P & G in 1990, he has become a Certified Judge of the American Orchid Society. Dr. Sanford and his wife, Patience, raised four children. They maintain their home in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Jong Dae Lee

ong Dae Lee was born in Kumrung, Kyung Buk, Korea, on May 28, 1933. He graduated from Kimchun High School in 1950 and attended Teachers College of Kyung Buk University, Teagu, Korea. In 1955, he received a bachelor of science degree in science and engineering from Kyung Buk University. Before joining YuHan Corporation in 1967, Mr. Lee held positions in several paper companies: Chung Ku Paper Manufacturing Company, 1954-1958; Korea Straw Pulp Manufacturing Company, 1959-1961; Poong Kuk Paper Manufacturing Company, 1961-1965; and Ehwa Paper Manufacturing Company, Ltd., 1965-1967.

After joining YuHan Corporation, Mr. Lee was a key person in the formation of the joint venture YuHan-Kimberly, Limited, which became effective in March 1970, and he was appointed head of the initial plant operations. On January 1, 1979, he became vice president and executive director, and in November 1980, president of the company.

Today, YuHan-Kimberly is the largest tissue and personal care company in Korea, with sales in excess of $400 million U.S. It is regarded as one of the best joint venture companies in Korea. Mr. Lee is credited with building the company from its initial start to its current 2,500 employees. The company holds the leading market share in all categories in which it competes, in many cases in excess of 50 percent total share.

Because of Mr. Lee’s drive and reputation, he was able to convince Kimberly-Clark management to place in Korea in 1982 the first nonwoven spunbonded machine outside the North American

Through the operation of the simple, yet effective paper machinery based on sound, leading tissue-making technology, and adaptions for third-world usage of cutting-edge spunbonded technology, Mr. Lee’s company has achieved remarkable production records for many products, including facial tissue, disposable diapers, and industrial wipers (paper cloth), while maintaining good corporate standing in the community. In short, what he was able to do was take old machines and remake them into efficient machines using cutting-edge technology to help rejuvenate Korean’s industrial base. YuHan-Kimberly is recognized as contributing to Korea’s growing economy and rising standard of living.

Mr. Lee’s resourcefulness and drive were responsible for the initial and subsequent success of the company. He personally designed and supervised the building of YuHan-Kimberly’s first paper-machine winder from material salvaged in the aftermath of the Korean War. Stories abound about building paper-machine rolls from 155mm gun barrels, with a sound basis in fact. He personally designed and supervised the building and marketing of smaller-scale and much lower-cost tissue machines, based on Kimberly-Clark crescent former and other technologies, which are for sale in third-world developing countries. Such machines are operating in El Salvador and Columbia. Key to this success was maintaining performance while simplifying and reducing machinery costs. Mr. Lee also designed and built lower-cost fine paper machines for companies in the Pacific Rim. Generally, Mr. Lee’s machines cost approximately one-third that of comparable machines for North America and Europe.

Mr. Lee was recognized by the Republic of Korea for contributing positively to the balance of payment through his entrepreneurship in achieving export sales of this machinery. He is a member of the Korean Paper Manufacturing Association and is presently chairman. In 1990, he received the Kimberly-Clark Corporation Entrepreneurial Achievement Award.

Mr. Lee retired in 1995. He had planned to retire earlier, but in response to a personal request from Mr. Darwin Smith, chief executive officer of Kimberly-Clark, he stayed on longer and retired in the year of Mr. Smith’s death. Mr. Lee and his wife, Kyung Aye Lee, have three grown children. They reside in Kwachon-si, Kyungki-do, South Korea.

Edgar J. Justus

Edgar Justus was born May 17, 1923, in Smithville, Missouri. He graduated from high school in Atlanta, Georgia, and in 1940 he entered Georgia Institute of Technology. He was a co-op student at Fairbanks, Morse and Company until 1942, when his entire engineering class was drafted into the U.S. Air Force. He served as an engineering officer and attained the rank of Captain. He returned to Fairbanks, Morse & Company in 1946 and completed his student co-op program in 1947. In 1948, he graduated from Georgia Tech with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering. He joined Beloit Corporation in 1950 and worked there until his retirement in 1984.

During his years with Beloit Corporation, he worked as an engineer; director of research; vice president of research; vice president of engineering, research and development; and vice president, corporate research and development worldwide.

Throughout his career, Mr. Justus made many unique and extremely valuable contributions to the paper industry, most notably to the technological advancement in paper machine design and performance, as exemplified by the design and development of: Full Hydraulic Flow Boxes; Coverilo and Strata-Flo headbox designs, the latter of which produces a multiple sheet from a single stratified jet; pioneering twin wire formers, lnverform, Bel Baie and Roll Former designs; Presses, Vented and Extended Nip; Controlled Crown Rolls; suction rolls; various roll designs; Yankee Dryers; drying systems; Versa-Cai; Super L; coaters, drives, hydraulics; electrical; controls; and systems. Prior to his retirement, he guided and directed Beloit Corporation’s worldwide research and development programs in pulp, stock, and papermaking technology.

Specifically, his achievements in twin wire forming, vented press systems, and extended nip presses reduced energy consumption. He successfully achieved suction noise roll reduction and sponsored many projects to attain an improved pulp and paper mill environment. His achievements also include economical designs and manufacturing means for maximum machine function; reduced installation costs; shorter machines; compact presses; and fewer dryers. His method of producing a stratified sheet allowed the effective utilization of waste paper.

Mr. Justus, affectionately known as E.J., was an inspiration and stimulus to many aspiring engineers and students, as well as a personal inspiration and dynamic force in the industry, through countless presentations and publications and through issuance of nearly 200 patents.

His achievements and innovations have resulted in simpler, energy-saving equipment, which can be operated at higher speeds and productivity with improved sheet quality. He clearly demonstrated that papermaking technology could continue to progress and that new ways and methods could be found to advance the art and science of paper, tissue, and board making. His advanced concepts successfully altered the course of pulp and paper science and contributed to improved quality and productivity.

In recognition of his many accomplishments, Mr. Justus received several professional honors: TAPPI Fellow, 1975; TAPPI Engineering Division Award, 1988; TAPPI Gunnar Nicholson Gold Medal Award, 1988; and Georgia Technical College of Engineering, Hall of Fame for Distinguished Alumni, 1995.

During his lifetime, Mr. Justus participated in numerous public service activities, including the Wisconsin Advisory Committee Equal Education Opportunities; District V Representative; and Georgia Tech National Alumni Association. He served on the executive committee of the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point Foundation and the curriculum committee of North Carolina University Foundation.

Equally as active in his community of Beloit, Mr. Justus served as member and president of the school board; captain of the membership drive and aquatic chairman for the YMCA; Officer of Session, First Presbyterian Church; and director, Beloit Country Club.

Mr. Justus died in 1988. He is survived by his wife, Loula Ann, who resides in Beloit, five children, and nine grandchildren.

William Rittenhouse

Wilhelm Rittinghausen, born in 1644, learned the papermaking trade in Mulheim, Germany, while working at his uncle Mathias Vorster’s mill. The two men later went to Holland, where they were employed in a Gelderland mill near Arnhem. In 1688, Mr. Rittinghausen, by now a Dutch citizen, emigrated to British North America and changed his name to William Rittenhouse. In 1690, he established a paper mill on the Monoshone Creek near Germantown, which is now Philadelphia. Joining him in the venture were three partners, Robert Turner, Thomas Tresse, and a printer named William Bradford.

Mr. Rittenhouse’s knowledge and skill played a major role in this courageous undertaking. His ability to organize financial backers as partners and a printer-partner as a contractual customer for the products led to an expedient and successful enterprise. Previous to this operation, all paper was imported from Europe and taxed accordingly. The new mill provided a local source of printing, writing, and wrapping paper, as well as pasteboard. Mr. Rittenhouse could well be called America’s father of recycling, since all of the mill’s fiber for hand papermaking was obtained from discarded rags and cotton.

In 1706, Mr. Rittenhouse bought out the other partners and became sole proprietor of Rittenhouse Paper Mill. He, and later his son, Claus, trained and developed a versatile work force to produce good products. This eventually led to starting up additional mills in Pennsylvania. Mr. Rittenhouse proved that papermaking in America could be a viable, economically sound business. Thus began the saga a vital and dynamic industry that fulfilled a significant role in America’s growth.

Mr. Rittenhouse died in 1708 and left the paper mill to his son, Claus. The business prospered at the site, and was operated by six generations of family descendants. For twenty years, Rittenhouse Paper Mill was the only paper mill in the Colonies. In 1710, William Dewees, who was married to Claus Rittenhouse’s sister, built a mill nearby in Chestnut Hill, having learned the trade at Rittenhouse Paper Mill. In 1729, the Willcox Ivey Mill was built in Chester County.

Forty years after the founding of Rittenhouse Paper Mill, the number of printers and paper mills grew exponentially. The Rittenhouse family monopoly in paper was over, but Mr. Rittenhouse’s descendants continued making paper on the Monoshone Creek until the 19th Century Industrial Revolution, when the development of the Fourdrinier, with its endless web and cylinder papermaking, changed the industry forever.

Thomas Busch

Thomas W. Busch was born in Kimberly, Wisconsin, in 1923. Following his graduation from Kimberly High School, he attended college for two years before joining the United States Air Force in 1942. He achieved the rank of Captain and served as a meteorologist. In 1946, he returned to college under the G.I. Bill; in addition, he applied to the Rotary Club for a loan.

Fred Heinritz, Sr., who was then president and general manager of The Appleton Coated Paper Company, was on the loan committee and told Mr. Busch to stop in to see him when he finished college, because there might be a job for him. There was, and Mr. Busch started work the day after he graduated from Lawrence University.

The research function in the company in 1948 dealt with those technical activities associated with the paper business, such as measuring properties of papers, measuring flow of coatings, and testing of finished products. The main thrust in the laboratory at that time was developing products for which the marketing department saw a need, pursuing quality control, and developing methods to coat papers.

Fundamental research and the discovery of new information began in 1954 when Mr. Busch worked with chemists from NCR Corporation to modify the basic carbonless paper formulations, allowing them to be commercially coated. Through his laboratory and manufacturing skills, along with his dedication to his profession, Appleton Papers was established as the world leader in the manufacture of carbonless and thermal papers.

During his career, Mr. Busch pursued a systematic approach in identifying the issues and concerns that had to be dealt with, working out a plan to solve those problems. Known for his superior insight in technology, people, and business, Mr. Busch helped establish teams for basic research and applied research and development engineering. Team members consisted of cross functional employees from research and development, manufacturing, and finance.

Mr. Busch conceived the idea for on-line paper machine production for carbonless paper. He assembled and directed a problem-solving team and made on-line manufacturing a possibility. This success led to the converting of old mills to carbonless manufacturing, turning marginal mills into profitable companies. Other ideas of his that were managed and implemented included flexo and bill blade coating on the paper machine; high velocity drying; high solids coating; tandem coating; and in-line calender.

Mr. Busch recognized the value of education to generate information that the industry could implement. He used The Institute of Paper Chemistry for testing, information, and space. He also recognized the value of the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI), and he strongly encouraged his coworkers and associates to participate.

Over the years, Mr. Busch made many significant contributions to TAPPI through his writing. In 1968, he was a contributing author to the book Industrial and Specialty Paper. TAPPI articles included Coated Weight Controls, 1965; Paper Coating Additives, 1966; The Shape of the Future, 1978; TAPPI Monograph Paper Coating Additives, 1978; Future Technical Needs and Trends, 1979; Productivity, 1980; Coated Paper Production, 1980; and Innovating for Profit Venice, 1980.

Mr. Busch has received patents for the method for the manufacture of double coated sheets with pressure rupturable materials, 1972; method and means for coating paper with pressure rupturable fluids containing capsules, 1971; and high-speed means and methods for emulsion coating thin paper, 1967. Through his contributions in coating rheology, base paper, coating interface concepts, and pre-coated papers, a new industry was born with worldwide sales of over six billion dollars annually. In the industry, his technological contributions have been applied in both on-machine and off-machine coating. His contributions have made possible the elimination of several steps in the manufacturing process.

TAPPI has referred to carbonless paper as “one of the outstanding paper-related innovations of the past half century, matched perhaps only by the invention of the xerographic imaging process.” The testimony to carbonless paper’s success is the public’s demand for it.

Mr. Busch has held memberships in the American Chemical Society; American Management Association; Graphic Arts Research Council; Graphic Arts Technical Foundation; and TAPPI. He also served as a director of TAPPI, and in 1978 he became a Fellow. In 1981, he received TAPPI’s Coating and Graphic Arts Division Award; and in 1986, he received the Community Service Award from the Paper Industry Management Association (PIMA).

In his 37 years with Appleton Papers Inc., Mr. Busch advanced through the ranks from chemist to chairman and chief executive officer, with much of his career focusing on research and development. He retired in 1985 at age 62 to care for his wife, who was ill.

Mr. Busch and his late wife, Genevieve, raised seven children. Besides his professional and family responsibilities, he has been an active participant in his community and church, having served as a director of Appleton Rotary Club; Appleton YMCA; Fox Valley Symphony; Junior Achievement; United Way; Villa Hope; Franciscan Health Care, Inc.; Xavier Foundation; and St. Elizabeth Hospital. Mr. Busch maintained his home in Appleton and continued his volunteer activities with St. Joseph’s Food Program until his death in 1999.

John McGovern

John N. McGovern was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1907. He attended public school and graduated from Milwaukee West High School. Following his graduation from the University of Wisconsin in 1929, with a bachelor of science degree, Dr. McGovern went to work as a research scientist for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin. In 1930, he earned a master of science degree, and in 1936, he earned his doctor of philosophy degree, both from the University of Wisconsin.

In 1954, Dr. McGovern went to work for Parsons and Whittemore as chief process engineer and vice president. From 1969 until 1975, he was professor of forestry at the University of Wisconsin.

In a career that spanned government, industry, and academics, Dr. McGovern was best known for developing new pulping techniques. He especially contributed to the improvement of semichemical pulping and pioneered in chemimechanical pulping. Dr. McGovern’s research on pulping of nonwood fibers expanded the raw material supply for manufacturers.

Dr. McGovern laid the foundation for the commercialization of numerous sources of fiber through his research, investigation, and personal exchange of ideas. As a college professor, his accomplishments and exceptional standards of professionalism inspired and benefited his students. He also promoted greater cooperation between the University of Wisconsin — Forestry Department, the USDA Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory and the pulp and paper industries throughout Wisconsin.

While at the Forest Products Laboratory, Dr. McGovern was instrumental in developing the cold soda pulping process, which can convert 90 percent of raw wood to usable pulp. At the end of World War II, he served as scientific consultant to the International Corporation Administration, where he investigated the rebuilding of a viable pulp and paper industry in Europe. While with Parsons and Whittemore, he directed the process engineering work for more than forty pulp and paper projects around the world, and contributed significantly to improved methods and equipment arrangements for handling wood and other nonfibrous raw materials, such as straw, bagasse (what is left of sugarcane after the sugar is removed), and bamboo.

His legacy of more than 150 papers provided leading-edge scientific insights at the given time of need. He was also a contributor to college textbooks, reference books, encyclopedias, and TAPPI monographs.

Dr. McGovern’s membership in professional organizations included the Forest History Association of Wisconsin, Center of History in Chemistry; Academy of Sciences, Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters; and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, New York. In 1968, he became a Fellow, Technical Association for the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI), and in 1986, he received the Distinguished Service Award.

Dr. McGovern was personally interested in biblical archaeology and ancient writing materials, and he contributed to two major exhibits that were organized by the University of Wisconsin Department of Hebrew and Scientific studies. He also enjoyed collecting 20th Century art.

Dr. McGovern died in March 1995 and is survived by two daughters and a son, Dr. Diane Billings, Dr. Jill McGovern, and John, a certified public accountant.

George Kress

George F. Kress was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1903. He was educated in the public school system, after which he enrolled in the University of Wisconsin, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1925. Following his graduation, he went to work for the accounting firm, H.C. Hopson, Inc. in New York.

In 1926, Mr. Kress returned to Green Bay to assist his father with his horse collar and wooden box business. Upon his return, Mr. Kress married his fiance, Marguerite, and they worked together to develop the box business. In 1933, Green Bay Box Company began to manufacture corrugated shipping containers, followed by folding cartons in 1942. In 1948, Green Bay Pulp & Paper Company was formed to produce corrugating medium for use at Green Bay Box.

Marguerite worked along side her husband for many years, and it was not unusual for her to bring their children to work with her. In the formative years, both of the Kresses became involved in all aspects of boxmaking and business management. As their efforts began to bear fruit, Mr. Kress had the foresight to reinvest the proceeds in the business and eventually branch out into related fields. Working with friends and family, Mr. Kress built an idea into a business that now transcends not only local and state boundaries but which has a significant international presence. Mrs. Kress was active in the business until 1935, but she continued to do some corporate work from her home.

Mr. Kress has many “firsts” to his credit. He was the first to recognize the potential of corrugating medium, which was made by using the semi-chemical method of wood preparation. Working with the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, the Green Bay mill commercialized what had been considered an interesting experiment. The entire packaging industry now uses the same or related technology to make fluting paper.

The Green Bay mill was the first in the industry to develop the concept and practice of zero discharge technology as it applies to process wastewaters. Long before it became fashionable, Green Bay Packaging recognized its environmental stewardship responsibility. The origins of many of the ecologically responsible technologies being implemented into today’s state-of-the-art paper mills can be traced to Green Bay Packaging.

Green Bay Packaging was the first to develop 100 percent recycled packaging grades that actually outperformed their virgin counterparts. This eventually led to the establishment of the “mini-mill” concept, which resulted in the enhanced recovery and reuse of used corrugated containers. The company pioneered many industry advances in both technology and application, and the knowledge was shared without fear of damaging what might be considered a competitive advantage.

Although it wasn’t commonplace 20 years ago, the concept of totally effluent free (TEF) pulping was first implemented at Green Bay Packaging in the mid-1970s. Once again, the company concluded that the development was too important to keep secret. Although the original pulp mill has been discontinued, various embodiments of the concept are operating throughout the world.

During his career, Mr. Kress has held memberships in the Fibre Box Association; Folding Paper Box Association of America; and the American Forest & Paper Association (American Paper Institute).

His professional honors have included the William H. MacDonald Award from the United Way of Brown County in recognition for services to the organization, in which he introduced the concept of payroll deduction to the local area. In 1983, he was the first to receive the Green Bay Rotary Club Free Enterprise Award for outstanding contributions to the American free enterprise system; in 1984, he received the Wisconsin Governor’s Award in Support of the Arts; in 1986, he received both the Norman Vincent Peale Award and Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Wisconsin — Madison School of Business. The United Way of Brown County established an annual “George E. Kress Corporate Support Award” to acknowledge his commitment to and support of the community. St. Norbert College also bestowed upon him an honorary doctor of law degree.

Mr. Kress has served as president and chairman of the board for Green Bay Packaging Inc. and, after, as honorary chairman, until his death in 1997. He and Marguerite were married for 70 years. Sadly, Mrs. Kress did not live to see her husband inducted into The Paper Industry Hall of Fame. She died on Saturday, August 31, 1996. The Kresses’ son, James, is chairman of Green Bay Packaging and their other two children, Don and Marilyn, serve on the board.