Irwin A. Pearl

Irwin Pearl was born in Seattle, Washington, on December 25, 1913. He received earned a Bachelor of Science in 1934, a Master of Science in 1935, and a Ph.D. in 1937, all from the University of Washington, in Seattle.

After serving in responsible technical positions (1937-40), Pearl joined the Institute of Paper Chemistry (IPC) in 1941 and worked as senior research associate and professor (1941-76) where he began his pursuit of lignin chemistry. In 1955, he was appointed leader of the Lignin Group. From 1977-90, he was a chemical consultant to the forest products industry.

Starting in 1941, Pearl recognized and explored the hidden value of lignin in black liquor—one of the first in the world to do so. He was a strong believer in the use of byproduct materials to create value-added products, and saw lignin derivatives as a rich opportunity that could rival petroleum and coal tar as a source of synthetic materials. He showed that, with further chemical treatment, lignin in kraft black liquor could yield useful lignosulfonates similar to those coming from sulfite pulping.

Pearl isolated vanillin and produced related products such as esters, amides, ethers, and other compounds from lignin that could be used for slime control, treatment of fungal infections, preservatives, and other applications. Thanks to his efforts, 1.25 million tons per year of lignin were productively diverted from streams and rivers. The work he launched was ahead of its time, and is now called biorefining.

In 1952, working with Robert Cohen, Pearl produced ethyl vanillate from lignin, providing an inexpensive source for a compound needed to treat serious, and sometimes fatal, fungal infections including actinomycosis, or lumpy jaw; histoplasmosis; blastomycosis; and coccidioidomycosis, or “Valley Fever.” Ethyl vanillate made from byproducts of wood pulp was used to treat patients in North America and Europe, as reported in The Science News-Letter and The British Medical Journal. The production of ethyl vanillate from wood pulp filled a critical need at a time when other treatments had not yet been discovered. Turning a study of lignin from black liquor into life-saving medication is an important example of the benefits that can come from research in our industry.

Pearl has over 100 publications in the Journal of the Chemical Society and other reknown journals and magazines. He was the author of The Chemistry of Lignin (New York: Marcel Dekker, 1967). His authoritative articles on lignin were published regularly in TAPPI Journal. He has 59 US patents and over 100 foreign patents to his credit.

He was an active member, later an Emeritus member, of the American Chemical Society, a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences, and a member of the Forest Products Research Society, TAPPI, Phytochemical Society of North America, the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, and the American Philatelic Society. Pearl and wife Lillian were enthusiastic members of the Square Dancing Club.

Pearl passed away on May 14, 2014, in Wilmington, Delaware, at the age of 100, his wife Lillian died in 2005. They had two children; daughter Cheryl Kamm, who died in 2014, and son Hugh Pearl, who lives in Sleepy Hollow, Illinois.

Charles P. Klass

Charles (Chuck) Klass was born on February 6, 1940, at Piqua, Ohio but grew up in Dayton where his father worked. In 1962, Class received his Bachelor of Science degree (BA) from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, and his Masters in business management (MBA) from Pace University, New York City in 1968

Klass started working before and after he received his degrees. Some examples of his jobs included working at paper schools, paper, and allied industries, in sales & marketing and at trade Journals. He ended up in the management ladder when he started Klass Associates Inc., in 1986, and led the corporation to a huge success as its President.

Klass has over five (5) decades of pulp and paper and allied industry experience including 28 years as a consultant and innovator in the field of coated paper, paperboard, tissue, and many other paper-based products to paper related businesses all over the world, especially in countries such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Chile, Colombia, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, UK, USA, and Uruguay.

Klass’s contributions led to the commercialization of the metered size press; coating of deinked post-consumer recycled waste papers; improving grease resistance, the development of Crayola Wonder paper, the development of rod coaters for Kohler Coating, the commercialization of nanoparticle big latex binders for Ecosynthetix, and the development of Colorlok technology for Hewlett-Packard for their inkjet papers.

Klass has 7 US and International patents to his credit. He has published 164 technical papers including chapters in books, TAPPI Journal and Nordisk Celulosa and other trade journals focusing on applied technology. The great majority of the publications appear as invited presentations in many conference proceedings worldwide.

Klass is a member of PIMA; TAPPI and CPPA. His public service activities included Jaycees, South Brunswick Township Recreation Commissioner, Lieutenant, and Pilot with New Jersey Civil Air Patrol, Board member of Philadelphia’s American Cancer Society,

For his contributions he received many honors including TAPPI Gold Medal; TAPPI Fellow; TAPPI Paper and Board Manufacturing Division Award and Harris O. Ware Prize; TAPPI Distinguished Service Award; TAPPI Coating and Graphic Arts Division Leadership and Service Award and became Western Michigan University’s Fellow. He also received the Paper Technology Foundation’s Hall of Fame Award.

Chuck Klass and his wife Beverly, live in Madeira Beach, Florida. They have one daughter and three grandchildren.

Wang Zhen

Wang Zhen was born during the Yuan Dynasty of China in 1271. He became a government official and saw a need to advance the future of agriculture in China by documenting and publishing the many technical innovations he saw throughout China with the hope of alleviating poverty by spreading that knowledge. To achieve his ambition, an effective printing method would be needed to print not just a few copies but thousands of copies of an extensive manual, not only for the workers but also for officials who could guide their people.

Wang Zhen’s book, the Nong Shu or The Book of Farming was published in 1313 and had 800 pages and 100,000 words. It was a highly illustrated agricultural bible, full of Da Vinci-like drawings that would be used throughout China to instruct farmers and facilitate knowledge transfer.

Wang Zhen’s primary innovation was a system that improved the speed and efficiency of typesetting.  It had rotary tables to help typesetters quickly sort and process thousands of carved wooden blocks for use in a printing press. This mass-produced book and the ensuing industry of printing would be part of the driving force for the growth of the paper industry internationally.

Wang Zhen explored several approaches but determined that wooden block movable type would be most effective since the many unique Chinese characters that would be needed could be quickly hand-carved. His work with wooden movable type was primarily conducted in the years 1297 or 1298.

Though not the inventor of movable type itself, he created the first mass-produced book. Its illustrations show a dizzying array of technologies such as water wheels, water-powered bellows, pumps, gears and pulleys, the blast furnace, and other inventions that were long attributed to later European inventors. Although controversial, one American author even argues that copies of the Nong Shu arriving in Italy may have inspired Da Vinci and sparked the Italian Renaissance. In any case, there is little doubt that Wang Zhen’s accomplishment should also be recognized with that of Gutenberg and other giants of innovation.

Gutenberg has been recognized as one of the greatest inventors of all time for the monumental impact he had on printing. His printed Bible has often been called the world’s first substantial mass-produced book printed with movable type. That achievement came in 1455, just 142 years after the world’s actual first mass-produced book printed with movable type by long-neglected inventor and government official, Wang Zhen.

Wang Zhen died in 1368.

Norm Dove

Norm Dove was born in Romford, Essex, England on October 29, 1941. He attended Thurrock Technical College from 1957 to 1963, where he obtained a Higher National Certificate plus endorsements. From 1957-65, he worked with Van den Burgs and Jurgen of Unilever Brothers (1957-65); with Dominion Engineering’s Paper machine division (1965); with American Can Co. as project engineer (1965-68) and then with Crestbrook Forest Industries, B.C., Canada as Sr. project Engineer (1968-77).

Dove’s legacy began in 1970 when, while working for Crestbrook, he designed a better steam shower system for a Fourdrinier that enabled a significant increase in machine speed. He obtained a patent for his invention, the first of over 33 in his name. The boost in productivity from this device would lead to his founding of Devron Engineering Ltd. in 1972 and becoming its President.

The first sale of the now famous Devronizer to Consolidated Papers in New Richmond, Quebec resulted in a 15% increase in production on a linerboard machine. His Devronizer would be applied over the Fourdrinier, the couch, and in the press section, with impressive success. But Dove’s quest for innovation did not stop there.

His company soon expanded its product line to include dry-end steam applications (Calendizer), slice lip actuators (Autoslice), calendar stack actuators (Calcoil), and coat weight actuators (ProCoat). Dove’s SuperFlex Titanium Slice Lip gave significant gains in productivity and quality by enabling much tighter basis weight control. As business grew, Dove required employees to be trained in Edward Deming’s system of statistical process control. He drove attitudes of quality and zero-failures in every aspect of their work.

In the area of cross-direction (CD) actuators and controls, Devron enjoyed a worldwide market share of 30% by 1990. Compact, automated actuator beams networked to the mill’s QCS system allowed CD variation in sheet properties to be dramatically reduced, often by over 50%. The CD actuators and controls from Dove’s work continue to benefit many of the paper machines in operation today.

In September 1991, Devron was acquired by Measurex, which in turn was acquired by Honeywell in 1997. The Devron methodology and passion for excellence continues today at Honeywell’s Center of Excellence in the original Devron factory in North Vancouver, B.C.

Norm Dove and his wife, Nan, live in Echo Valley Ranch, B.C., Canada.  Norm has three daughters, Ashlie, Megan and Amy.

Havilah Babcock

Havilah Babcock was born in Franklin, Vermont on September 8, 1837.  He attended school in Vermont and in Waukesha, Wisconsin before his family came to Neenah in 1849. There, at age twelve, he and his brothers worked for their father, a building contractor hired to construct the Neenah segment of the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway.

In 1857, while still in their teens, Babcock and his friend Alfred Kimberly started their own dry goods business. The two young men also established the unusual business culture of equal ownership and shared management. In 1869 they made use of Babcock’s construction background to build the Reliance Mill, the city’s largest flourmill.

In 1872, Kimberly and Babcock organized a joint stock paper company with four other investors. A month later the investors changed to include C. B. Clark and F. C. Shattuck and the company renamed Kimberly, Clark & Co. In 1874, by a memorandum of agreement, the equal ownership was formally established between the four partners: Kimberly, Babcock, Clark and Shattuck. In doing so they consciously avoided the dissension that plagued other businesses and experienced an unparalleled rate of growth and expansion.

Beginning with the construction of the Globe Paper Mill in 1872, the company purchased the original Neenah Paper Mill in 1874; organized the Atlas Paper Company in 1878; constructed the Vulcan Paper Mill in 1881; the Tioga Paper Mill in 1883; the Badger Paper mills in 1884; the new Neenah Paper Mill in 1885; organized the Telulah Paper Company in 1887; and constructed the Kimberly mill in 1889.  Through this rapid expansion of capacity, Kimberly, Clark & Co. established the Fox River Valley as one of the leading centers of paper production in the United States of America.

In 1880, the company was incorporated as Kimberly & Clark Co. with Kimberly as President and his closest associate Babcock, as Vice President, working together for the next twenty years. Babcock would also take a highly visible leadership role in the organization of the Shattuck & BabcockPaper Co. in 1890, which would become the largest producer of fine writing papers in the U.S.

In 1889, F.J. Sensenbrenner (1998 Hall of Fame Inductee) had joined Kimberly & Clark Co. as an accountant.  As Clark died in 1890, Shattuck in 1891 and Kimberly withdrew from work in 1905; Babcock served as a pivotal link in the transition of leadership to F. J. Sensenbrenner. In 1928 when Kimberly died and Sensenbrenner became President, the name of the company was changed for the fourth time to Kimberly-Clark Corporation.

Havilah Babcock died on April 21, 1905. He was survived by his wife and five children.

David A. Bossen

David A. Bossen was born in Clinton, Iowa on January 9, 1927. He was 12 years old when his father died and so he started working at the Clinton Post Office and at age 14 rode shotgun when they drove the bank deposits to Chicago. In 1950, he married Doris Stephens.

Bossen served in the U.S. Marine Corps (1945-46) and received a fleet appointment to the U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD (1946-49). He earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in electrical engineering from M.I.T ca. 1951. Later, he worked for Alcoa as Industrial Engineer (1948-51) then as VP & GM for Industrial Nucleonics (AccuRay) (1952-67) which was later bought by Combustion Engineering and then in turn was acquired by ABB.

In 1968, Bossen founded Measurex Corporation and was at its helm until 1997. This was a revolutionary period for the paper industry, since prior to this time few paper machines were equipped with on-line measurement sensors and control systems. The technology developed by Measurex led to improved paper quality, reduced paper losses, better machine efficiency, energy savings and optimized use of raw materials.

Bossen was so confident of his technology that he offered a “Results Guarantee” of 99% uptime operation. Hence, as the “Results Company”, Measurex grew rapidly installing over 3,000 paper machine control systems worldwide by 1988. Today, close to 100% of paper machines use on-line control systems benefitting from technologies developed by Measurex (and subsequently by others) that allow paper machines to operate efficiently.

Bossen was also an innovator and a leader. He surrounded himself with the most outstanding personnel that he could find, across a wide array of disciplines. He followed an intensely involved, hands-on management approach and treated his employees as family. This led to a company that the employees called “an amazing culture”.

Measurex was acquired by Honeywell in 1997. Bossen had served Measurex as CEO and then Chairman of the Board until 1997. He retired in 2000 as “Chairman Emeritus”. He was a TAPPI Fellow, a member of PIMA, and a member of American Electronics Association. He had 19 patents to his credits.

David Bossen died on April 21, 2015 at his home in Menlo Park, California at the age of 88. He was preceded in death by his first wife of 40 year, Doris, and his daughter Julie Ayerza. He is survived by his second wife of 24 years, Darlene, three daughters, one son, nine grandchildren and one great-grandson.

Bjarne Holmbom

Bjarne Holmbom was born in Ingå, Finland on September 28, 1943. His father was a farmer and his mother a school teacher in the village where they lived. He had two brothers, one died and the other has continued to farm.

Holmbom went to school at the age of five, which is rather unusual in Finland where the normal school starting age is 7 years. He finished high school in 1961 at the age of 17. He joined the ÅA University to study chemistry in the faculty of chemical engineering that provided education in wood chemistry and pulping technology. He earned his M.Sc. degree in 1967 and Ph.D. in 1978 and got very interested in the chemistry of wood and its application in new product development.

After his Ph.D., Holmbom continued to work at the ÅA University, first as a research scientist and later took on different teaching responsibilities and, in 1981, was appointed Professor. During this period he also visited the Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada (1979–1980); North Carolina State University. U.S.A. (1985–1986); and INPG- EFPG, Grenoble, France (1999). He retired from his professorial responsibilities in 2008 but continued to work as a Scientific Advisor at ÅA University. In addition, together with his son, he also ran a small family company, Separation Research Ltd., providing analytical and preparative services mainly for the forest industry.

Holmbom started his research career working on tall oil produced in the chemical pulping processes and later expanded into environmental and paper chemistry areas. His key expertise and innovations relate to the utilization of wood components as a resource for value added products. For example, he extracted lignans and other polymers, such as poly-phenols, from wood and developed their usage in medicines, in functional foods, sun creams, technical antioxidants, and as natural organic biocides.

Holmbom and his colleague, Christer Eckerman, worked on breakthrough research and innovation creating a platform for large-scale separation, isolation, purification and applications of chemical components from wood, especially knots. It is said that Holmbom’s research has made an important contribution towards making the forest products industry a biorefining industry.

Holmbom has 14 patents to his credit, has published 266 papers, and 31 book-chapters.

He received many awards and recognitions such as the Marcus Wallenberg Prize, shared with Christer Eckerman (2008); Mark of Honor presented by the President of Finland; Langen Medal FPEA (2006), Finnish Science Award by Ministry of Education (2006); and Tallus Prize for Environmental Research (1996).

Bjarne Holmbom lives with his wife, Ulla Ericke, in Åbo, Finland.

Alf de Ruvo

Alf de Ruvo was born October 28, 1938 in Sweden. After obtaining his M.Sc. in Chemistry and a Licentiate (Ph.D.) in Engineering with emphasis on paper technology, he moved to the United States where he worked as a research scientist for about 2 years.

In 1970, he accepted an appointment at the Swedish Forest Research Laboratory (STFI) where he quickly rose to become head of research in their Pulp and Paper Technology Department and worked on many projects dealing with paper physics, paper composites, converting and product properties. He was the motivating force behind a unique experimental paper machine. His greatest achievement was creating a research climate that inspired people. He was full of imagination and built a great international contact network.

Alf de Ruvo’s soul was in research. In 1983, he became Director of Research at Sunds Defibrator AB where he achieved many breakthroughs of new technologies. He was committed not only to the technical development but also to the introduction of Sund’s technologies to customers.

In 1987, he joined Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA) where, in 1993, he became the executive vice-president and the head of R&D. At SCA he was the moving force behind radical renewal of the SCA’s product portfolio thereby establishing a new research culture in the company. He spearheaded a composite materials approach on paper packaging materials.  He also worked on the water absorption/sorption and surface chemistry properties of hygienic products. He implemented the use of CTMP in the adsorption core of hygiene products

Alf de Ruvo’s achievements for the Swedish forest products industry in general, and for SCA in particular, have few parallels. He improved the relationship between industry and academia. He also initiated forest products industrial research at many academic institutions and his efforts were decisive for the development of what is now the Mid-Sweden University. He has published 79 technical papers.

He was a member of the Board of Directors of STFI, served on the board of the Swedish Forest Industries Federation, and was Chairman of the Board of the Forest Products Industry Research College (FPIRC) at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH).

In recognition of extreme contributions to the Pulp and Paper Industry, the Swedish Association of Pulp and Paper Engineers awarded him its prestigious Ekman Medal in 1998.

Alf de Ruvo died on September 23, 2000. A foundation was organized in his honor that awards a scholarship of 500,000 Swedish Krona (SEK) in his name every year.

Martin Keyes

Martin Keyes was born on February 19, 1850 in Lempster, New Hampshire. He showed an early aptitude for invention by designing a new type of fishing reel as well as a line of furniture.  He worked with his brother to continue the family business, but became more interested in what could be done with wood.

This led him to join the Indurated Fiber Company of North Gorham, Maine that manufactured tubs, pails and pressed pulp wares. As Superintendent of Indurated, he obtained a number of patents providing protection for some of the company products.

Following an observation that workmen used pieces of veneer for plates, Keyes conceived the idea for developing plates of molded pulp.  He was eventually able to develop and patent a machine capable of making pulp molded pie plates.  Following some litigation to secure patent protection, Keyes was able to identify a pulp supplier and obtain financial backing to build a small mill in Shawmut, Maine. The first shipment of pie plates occurred in the summer of 1904, but the plant closed for a period in early 1905. Although the pie plates were superior to the competition, they were more expensive and not competitive.

After implementing significant price reduction steps and investing additional personal finances, Keyes was able to restart production.  Popularity of the pie plates increased significantly as a result of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake which created a market for disposable dishes.

By 1908, Keyes Fiber had built a new mill in Waterville, Maine and had expanded the product line to include butter dishes and a “Picnic Package” that included different size plates.  In 1911, Keyes convinced his son-in-law, Dr. George Averill to join the company. He later succeeded Keyes as head of the company and the popularity of Keyes products has continued.  Keyes Fiber also expanded the product line to include rough, as well as smooth, molded pulp products for both the commercial and consumer markets.

Today, Keyes Fiber is part of Hutamaki, Waterville, Maine, and they continue to produce a variety of pulp-molded products including the well-known Chinet® items.

Martin Keyes died on November 18, 1914 in Fairfield, Maine.

Marja-Sisko Ilvessalo-Pfäffli

Marja-Sisko Ilvessalo-Pfäffli was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1916. She earned her M.Sc. degree from the Technical University of Helsinki in 1943 and started a career that lasted 68 years. In 1956, Ilvessalo-Pfäffli married Samuel Pfäffli, Licentiate of Technology.
Ilvessalo-Pfäffli’s career started at KCL (Finnish Pulp and Paper Research Institute) in Helsinki, Finland followed by STFI in Stockholm, Sweden, Wiggins Teape in Scotland and back to KCL again. In 1954, she was appointed head of microscopy research of pulp and paper and board at KCL. In her last position at KCL, she held the right to sign officially (Per procuram) the fiber analysis documents on behalf KCL. Samples from all over the world were sent for analysis to Ilvessalo-Pfäffli, an internationally highly regarded specialist. Formally she retired when she was 65 but for a number of years continued coming to the institute every morning in the same manner as she had always done.
The value of fiber analysis has rather increased than diminished. Ilvessalo-Pfäffli developed the methodology responding to such needs and making full use of the fascinating development of the scanning electron microscopes that she was able to witness during her long career. She also developed a semi-automatic recorder for the measurement of fiber dimensions.
Later, Ilvessalo-Pfäffli worked privately concentrating in writing and editing her book Fiber Atlas that can be regarded as a “Bible” for fiber microscopists. This book comprises 400 pages and 385 figures and is an excellent guide for anybody involved in fiber analysis. It is a masterwork providing information not only on the structure of the fibers but also on the geographic distribution of the relevant tree species. It covers 29 wood samples from Eurasia, 39 from North America, 16 from the southern hemisphere and the tropics and 34 of non-wood origin. The first edition was sold out long ago but the second will come out soon. Besides Fiber Atlas, Ilvessalo-Pfäffli published a number of papers, gave presentations, participated in permanent and ad hoc working groups and was “mother”, mentor and teacher of several younger scientists, some of whom became her successors.
She was one of the very first prominent women in the world of papermakers. Twice she was given merit awards by the Finnish Paper Engineers Association.
Marja-Sisko Ilvessalo-Pfäffli died on April 3, 2013. She and her husband Samuel Pfäffli had two daughters, Heidi and Elisa.

George Herbert Tomlinson

George H. Tomlinson was born on June 19, 1880, son of R. H. Tomlinson of Toronto, Ontario. He received his BA in 1901 from Trinity College in Toronto and, in 1946, he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Laws from the Bishop’s University.

Tomlinson held executive positions as Director of Research at Riorden Pulp and Paper Company, and Technical Director of Research and Vice President at Howard Smith Paper Company.

Tomlinson’s invention of the chemical recovery furnace in 1932 was critical in advancing the Kraft pulping process to the dominant wood pulping method that it is today. His revolutionary invention recovered the heat value of waste organic material in black liquor while reducing sulfur to sulfide and collecting the sulfide and sodium in a molten sodium carbonate smelt. 

Within 10 years, the superior economic advantages of the Tomlinson furnace (particularly the recovery of heat as steam needed to heat digesters, paper dryers, etc.) and the fact that it efficiently recycled pulping chemicals enabled the Kraft process to overtake the sulfite process in production tonnage. Many improvements have been made to Tomlinson’s initial design, but many of its basic features remain unchanged.

Tomlinson’s success with the recovery process should not overshadow his successes as a wood chemist and research leader. In 1908, as an early career scientist working with the Ewen brothers of Chicago, he developed a process to produce ethyl alcohol from wood waste. Commercial plants were built in South Carolina and Louisiana, with the South Carolina plant operated by the DuPont de Nemours Powder Company. As with the recovery furnace invented 24 years later, the wood-to-alcohol plants were based on a detailed understanding of both commercial and chemical process requirements.

As Technical Director of Research at Howard Smith Paper Company, Tomlinson was involved in developing commercial methods to separate lignin from black liquor, use lignin to produce a laminated panel called Arborite, and collect vanillin from sulfite pulping liquors. His research also led to the development of the magnesium-based sulfite pulping process. In addition to many others, he has three key US Patents dealing with the Tomlinson process.

In 1948, Tomlinson was awarded the Canada Medal of the Society of Chemical Industry of England for his outstanding contributions to the Chemical Industry in Canada. In 1951, he received the nineteenth TAPPI Medal.

George Tomlinson died in Montreal on August 2, 1958. He and his wife had five children.

Arne J.A. Asplund

Arne Asplund was born in Skon, Sweden, on August 27, 1903. He journeyed to the US in 1923, working at several paper companies, including one in Tomahawk, Wisconsin. Following a recommendation from a friend, he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, almost gave up because of lack of money, but decided to continue by working his way through and graduated with a BS degree in Chemical Engineering in 1927.

Asplund invented the steam-pressurized refining process, leading to a very important technology for producing thermo-mechanical pulp (TMP) and chemi-TMP, which eventually evolved into a branch of the technology called semi-chemical pulping.

Asplund took his process from an idea, in 1931, through pilot plant research that resulted in co-founding of Defibrator AB in 1933 to commercialize his process for which he was granted a patent in 1934.  In 1968, the first commercial paper industry application with a Defibrator Refining System was installed in Sweden. Further commercialization resulted in many millions of tons of fiberboard and other materials produced in efficient and cost-effective plants worldwide. This virtually revolutionized the pulp and paper industry in the 1970s.

Not many individuals take a scientific/engineering concept from the beginning through development to an ongoing commercial process used worldwide, with tremendous impact on the industry.

Later, Sunds and Defibrator merged to form Sunds Defibrator. Asplund retired in 1979, but continued his inventive ways with more than 50 patents.

Among honors he received are the TAPPI Gold Medal, the University of Wisconsin Distinguished Service Citation, the National Swedish Board for Technical Development prize and the Ekman Gold Medal of the Swedish Association of Pulp and Paper Engineers. He was elected Fellow of the Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) and Fellow of TAPPI. He was also awarded a Doctorate h.c. by the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.

In recognition of his achievements, the Arne Asplund Mechanical Pulping Award is now awarded to encourage the development of new pulping technologies.

After living most of his life in Lidingö, just outside of Stockholm, Sweden, Arne Asplund died on November 4, 1993.

Walter Brecht

Walter Brecht was born in Augsburg, Germany, on June 29, 1900. He received his Masters Degree in 1923 and Doctorate
(Dr. Ing) in 1925, both from the Technische Hochschule, now Technische Universität Darmstadt (TUD), Germany. After graduation, he moved to the United States to work as a process engineer at Hammermill Paper Company, Erie, PA, (1925-1926). In 1926, he returned to Augsburg, Germany to join Haindl Paper Company as mill superintendent. In 1931, he was invited to join TUD as a Professor and head of the Department of Paper Science and Technology (DPST) from where he retired in 1971 after a very successful 40-year tenure. At TUD, Brecht was also Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical & Chemical Engineering (1939-1944 and 1949-1951) and Rector of TUD (1956-1957).Under his leadership, DPST became one of the major pulp and paper centers in the world. His work resulted in improving stone groundwood pulp, stock preparation, refining, screening, calendaring, dimensional stability, intensified utilization of recycled fibers and issues related to environmental protection. He played a pivotal role in developing paper testing devices such as wet strength analyzer, stiffness tester and dynamic ply-bond tester.
Brecht guided a total of about 350 Masters and PhD students, including around 20% from non-German speaking countries and authored some 388 publications. Abstracts of Brecht’s 388 publications were published as special issue by Papiertechnishe Stiftung Verlag, München, Germany. Brecht also authored two books “Wastewater and Its Treatment”
(1980) and “Our Life in Augsburg – at that time” (1985).

Brecht was member of German and Austrian Paper Engineers’ Associations; the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences; a TAPPI member since 1930 and German Representative to the EUCEPA Executive Committee (1956-1973).

He also organized the International Conference of Engineers’ Training (IKIA) in 1947 and two EUCEPA Conferences in Germany; one in Darmstadt (1963) and the other in Berlin (1968); he was also the editor of both Conference Proceedings. He was the first recipient of the Mitscherlich Award of German Paper Engineer’s Assoc. (1936). Other awards included the Ullstein Award of the German Federation of the Printing Industry (1971); U.S. TAPPI Fellow (1971); the Lampen Award of the Finnish Paper Engineer’s Assoc. (1972), and Silver Merit Award from the City of Darmstadt (1980).

Brecht died in Darmstadt, Germany on September 9, 1986.

Waldemar Jensen

Waldemar Jensen was born in the small town Trostyanets in Ukraine (Russia) on August 1, 1915 into a family originating from Finland. His father was working as a doctor of medicine at a sugar mill. Soon after his birth, the Russian revolution forced the family to escape back to Finland and settle in Turku (Åbo).In 1938, Jensen received his M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the Åbo Akademi University (ÅA) and joined the G. A. Serlachius Oy TAKO carton board mill in Tampere. During the Second World War, he worked for the Finnish Army developing lubrication oils from wood tar. After the war, Jensen returned to ÅA and while working as a teacher also completed his doctoral studies related to the utilization of birch wood.

After finishing his doctorate in 1948, Jensen continued to work at ÅA and, in 1951, was appointed a full professor in wood chemistry. During his time at ÅA he worked on introducing birch as a raw material for bleached pulp and on the utilization of birch bark components for the production of various chemicals. His research led to the development of the birch pulp industry.

In 1955, Jensen was appointed CEO of the industry-owned Finnish Pulp and Paper Research Institute (KCL) with the mission to develop the institute into an efficient world-class industrial pulp and paper research organization. An important part of this process was the relocation of KCL into a new building in Otaniemi, in close connection with the Helsinki University of Technology (TKK). The new modern buildings were inaugurated in 1962. Jensen also developed and implemented a system for managing and combining the interests of some 25 companies into fruitful joint research programs benefitting all of them.

In post-war Europe, international contacts between research organizations were still scarce. Jensen made a great effort in developing these and he was definitely able to put KCL on the world map of pulp and paper research and he became a very well known and respected personality in the world of research institution leaders.

During his career Jensen received the Alexander Mitscherlich Medal of Zellcheming in 1973, the EUCEPA silver medal in 1981 and the Lampen medal in gold in 1987. He was a TAPPI Fellow since 1973. He also received Honorary Doctor’s degrees from two universities, the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, in 1978 and the Helsinki University of Technology in 1988.

Waldemar Jensen retired from KCL on August 1, 1980 and died on January 9, 2009 in Kauniainen, Finland.

Theodore H Wegner

Theodore Wegner, “Ted”, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on September 18, 1945. He received his B.S. (1967) in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and M.S. (1969) and Ph.D. (1972) in Chemical Engineering both from the University of Illinois, Urbana. He served in the Chemical Corps, United States Army, for four months before joining as a Research Engineer in the Textile Fibers Department, E. I. DuPont de Nemours, Inc., Seaford, Delaware and worked there from 1972-1977.In 1977 Wegner joined the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin, starting as a Research Chemical Engineer in 1977; became a Project Leader in 1984 and was named to his current position of Assistant Director for Wood, Fiber & Composites Research in 1989. He has been a major force in focusing the research efforts of the Forest Products Laboratory. While his initial interests were in understanding the influence of web dewatering and drying variables on paperboard properties, he expanded into biotechnology to produce better and unique wood pulps, the influence of chemical and mechanical modifications on the papermaking process, and opportunities to use wood fibers and cellulose in nanomaterials.

Wegner helped define Forest Service Research on converting forest biomass into transportation fuels, and oversees efforts to develop new strains of yeasts that efficiently convert wood sugars into ethanol and other high-valued chemicals; these sugars are recovered from woody biomass in high yield with minimal contamination from inhibitory materials. He also encouraged FPL researchers to publish their research results, present papers at conferences and develop connections with researchers outside of the Forest Products Laboratory.

In 2005, Wegner co-organized the National Science Foundation Workshop “Defining the Opportunities, Challenges, and Research Needs for NanoBiomaterials Derived from Lignocellulosics.” He was one of the principal authors of “Nanotechnology for the Forest Products Industry: Vision and Technology Roadmap.” Since 2006, he has been the co-organizer/co-chair of the 2006-2011 International Conferences on Nanotechnology for Renewable Materials”, and he continues to serve as the Forest Service representative on the US National Nanotechnolgy Initiative (NNI).

Wegner is a strong believer of sustainably managing healthy and diverse forests under both public and private ownership, and achieving national goals of advanced manufacturing, carbon sequestration, climate change adaptation, and achieving energy independence.”

Currently Wegner is active at FPL and resides in the Madison area.

Sverker Martin-Löf

Sverker Martin-Löf was born on November 8, 1943, in Hudiksvall, Sweden. He received a Tech Licentiate Degree from the Royal Institute of Technology, a Master of Engineering as well as an Honorary Ph.D. from the Mid Sweden University. He is one of Sweden’s most renowned industrialists who played a key role in a number of Swedish industries, including pulp and paper. Martin-Löf began with some fundamental work on cellulosic materials and then headed a large project in Sweden on process closure of paper machines, which had a huge practical impact on the paper industry in Sweden. Martin-Löf co-authored more than 30 research papers and technical reports at the Swedish Pulp and Paper Research Institute (STFI).

Martin-Löf joined SCA as a Division Manager in 1977. In 1983 he became President and CEO of Sunds Defibrator. He re-joined SCA in 1986, advanced to CEO in 1988, President and CEO in 1990 and then Chairman in 2002. Martin-Löf completely changed SCA’s product mix. By the end of 2012, tissue and personal hygiene products represented 80 percent of total sales of SCA.

SCA is a leading global hygiene and forest products company that develops and produces sustainable personal care, tissue and forest products and has sales in about 100 countries under many strong brands. As Europe’s largest owner of private forests, the company puts great emphasis on sustainable forest management. In 2012, SCA had annual sales of SEK 85 billion (13 billion USD) and 36,000 employees.

Martin-Löf established several globally distributed innovation networks for SCA. For example, the forest products and graphic papers R&D are located on the Mid Sweden University campus in Sundsvall. R&D for tissue and personal care products are centered in Sweden with other nodes and centers of innovation in China, Malaysia, Germany, the United States and Mexico. This distributed innovation network model allows for close interaction with customers, end-users and business partners.

SCA is currently ranked as one of the world’s most sustainable companies – environmentally, financially and socially. They’ve been recognized as one of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies and as one of the world’s most ethical companies by the Ethisphere Institute. Sustainability is an integral part of SCA’s operations and strategy for growth and value creation with a focus on a smaller environmental footprint and reduced costs and risk.

Currently Martin-Löf is Chairman of Industrivärden, one of the Nordic region’s leading holding companies with controlling investments in companies such as Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA), Handelsbanken, Sandvik, Volvo, Ericsson, SSAB and Skanska. He is also Chairman of SCA and SSAB as well as Vice Chairman of Ericsson and Svenska Handelsbanken. He is also a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.

Sven Axel Rydholm

Sven Rydholm was born in Landskrona, Sweden in 1923. He received his Master of Science in 1948 and a Licentiate in 1952, both in Chemical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. He worked as a research engineer for SCA in Sundsvall from 1948 to 1952 and for Billerud AB in Säffle from 1952 to 1977. He held various management positions in Billerud AB, among them several years as research director, and finally as President of the Pulp and Paper Division. Rydholm was the global authority on pulping processes and pulp qualities of his time. Rydholm summarized all available knowledge in the monumental work “Pulping Processes” published in 1965. This book of 1,269 pages has been used in universities, institutes, and companies world-wide up to the present day.

Rydholm was the driving force in Billerud’s decision to invest in an experimental factory with a production capacity of 10 tons per day within its research organization to study process equipment, process conditions and product qualities of continuous pulping processes and investment in a new Kraft pulp digester at the Gruvön mill. His decade long work in collaboration with AB Kamyr resulted in continuous pulping technology that is now the state-of-the-art in the industry. He obtained, among others, a patent on the path-breaking inverted top separator of the continuous digester. He was instrumental in Billerud’s decision in 1965 to establish a forest plantation and pulp mill in Portugal (Celbi), a forerunner producing high quality eucalyptus market pulp. He was also a prime reason for Billerud’s involvement in the Aracruz Celulose development in Brazil.

Rydholm eagerly promoted technologies leading to sustainable development of the pulp and paper industry. In 1971 the new bleached Kraft pulp mill at Gruvön pioneered new equipment and processes including several systems of water recirculation, chemical and energy recovery and process control. He served as chairman of the first joint committee of experts from the Swedish Forest Industry and the Swedish EPA and showed his great ability and leadership in this endeavor.

Rydholm received the SPCI Ekman medal in 1971, the TAPPI Pulp Manufacture Division Award (and JCFC Richter Prize) in 1973, and an Honorary Doctorate in Chemical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in 1974.

Sven Rydholm died on March 26, 1977 in Säffle, Sweden.

Charles N. Egan

Charles Egan was born in Boston, Massachusetts on May 30, 1910 and received his secondary education at Worcester Academy. He graduated from Yale University in 1933 with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and did post graduate study in Finance at New York University from 1934 to 1935. While studying there, he worked at the New York firm Young and Ottley.

From 1934 to 1940, he worked as an engineer at Mead Corporation in Chillicothe, Ohio and then joined Hennepin Paper Company, serving as Vice President and General Manager from 1940 to 1946. During this time, the war years, he rescued a failing business and created a highly profitable business that was sold to Time, Inc. in 1946.

In 1947 he bought the Little Rapids Pulp Company and moved his family to DePere, Wisconsin. In 1950 he acquired the Wolf River Paper and Fiber Company in Shawano, Wisconsin. In 1953, after having vastly improved the pulp mill, he sold it to Proctor and Gamble, leaving his company, after sale, with two early 1900 vintage paper machines on the Wolf River. From this base, Egan led the development of very lightweight papers with unique and diverse characteristics that ultimately assured long term success of Little Rapids Corporation as one of a handful of small, family owned paper companies in the United States of America. An example of Egan’s vision is the development of medical disposables by Little Rapids. The initial entry was under Egan’s direction and has since expanded under current management into beauty and dental businesses.

Besides his leadership of Little Rapids Corporation, Egan was a Director of Chicago Mill and Lumber Company, President and Chairman of Green Bay Tissue Mills, Inc., President of the American Tissue Association, and President of the Pulp Consumers Association. He served as President of the Wisconsin Paper Group, was on the Board of Directors of the American Paper Institute which in 1993 became the American Forest and Paper Association. He was also a Director of the Green Bay Packers, Rotary Club of Green Bay and President of the Oneida Golf and Riding Club. He served on St. Norbert College’s Development Council and was a member of TAPPI.

Charles Egan died in Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1977.

Louis-Nicolas Robert

Louis-Nicolas Robert was born in Paris, France on December 2, 1761. As a child he was physically frail and self-conscious, but studious and ambitious. From 1767-1776, he attended the school of the Religious Order of the Minimes in Paris and received an excellent education with a strong focus on science and mathematics.

In 1780 Robert joined the First Battalion of the Grenoble Artillery and in few years rose to the rank of sergeant-major. He married Charlotte Routier on November 11, 1794 in a civil ceremony. In 1791, Robert became clerk of the Didot family’s renowned Paris publishing house reporting to Saint-Léger Didot. Later, he took over as the inspector of personnel and technician/inventor at the Pierre-François Didot paper factory in Corbeil-Essonnes near Paris.

Robert was an inventor. After many trials and errors and with the help of Didot’s financial resources, Robert successfully built a small prototype model in 1797 characterized by an endless, 340 cm long and 64 cm wide, moving wire that could receive a continuous flow of stock and deliver a continuous sheet of wet paper to a pair of squeeze rolls. The continuous strip of wet paper came off the squeeze rolls and was manually hung over a series of cables or bars to dry. Prior to his invention, paper was made one sheet at a time, by dipping a rectangular frame or mould with a wire screen bottom into a vat of pulp. The frame could not be re-used until the previous sheet of paper was removed from it. A patent was granted to Robert by the French Government on January 18, 1799.

Robert and Didot quarreled over the ownership of the invention. Robert eventually sold both the patent and the prototype machine to Didot who wanted to develop and patent the machine in England, away from the distraction of the French Revolution. In March 1801, he struck a deal with brothers Sealy and Henry Fourdrinier, who ran a leading stationary house in London. After 6 years and approximately 60,000 British pounds of development costs, the Fourdriniers were awarded new patents and the Fourdrinier paper machine was born. Thus, Robert’s concept became the blueprint of the most widely used Fourdrinier paper machines. His invention was the most significant invention in more than 2000 years of papermaking history.

Robert could not take advantage of his invention. In 1812, in poor health, having both sold and lost control of his invention and the patent, Robert retired from paper-making and left Corbeil-Essonnes. He moved to Vernouillet, department Eure-et-Loir where he opened a small school where he continued to teach.

Louis-Nicolas Robert died on August 8, 1828 in Vernouillet, France. His statue stands in front of the church in Vernouillet.

Juuso Walden

Juuso Walden was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1907. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1925 from the Helsinki School of Economics and completed his studies later in England on paper marketing. Since his early years, Juuso Walden worked at the mills of United Paper Mills founded by his father, Rudolf Walden (2008 Inductee). Juuso started as a trainee, soon rose to become Office Manager and later Corporate Sales Manager. During WW II, Juuso Walden was appointed President and CEO when his father was elected Minister of Defence of Finland.After the death of Rudolf Walden in 1946, Juuso Walden and his family became the main shareholders of United Paper Mills together with the other owner family Björnberg. The heads of the families had differing views with regard to the development of the company and thus it was decided to divide the company into two halves early in 1952. The Björnberg’s part, Myllykoski Oy, parted from United Paper Mills.

Walden immediately began a major expansion of the new United Paper Mills (now UPM) because he expected strong growth in the global paper demand. The most important mill was the Kaipola newsprint and magazine paper mill, which became, in the early 1960s, the largest of its kind outside the North American continent. Gradually Kaipola mill concentrated on producing super calendared magazine papers.

Under Walden’s leadership, UPM was transformed into a multi business company adding a wide and diversified paper and board converting business for export to the Soviet Union. Later, engineering works and a chemical factory were added to produce equipment and materials for the paper industry. The company also acquired some small mills in other countries, especially in Italy. These acquisitions were, however, not always economically feasible.

Walden was especially interested in the welfare of the personnel. He became a very popular Big Boss when he got involved into building houses so that employees could live in homes of their own. He was also greatly interested in all kinds of sports. He hired several top-level athletes like Olympic Gold Medal Winners and World Champions to work for UPM.

Juuso Walden was one of the most important and visible industrial leaders in Finland. Due to his activities, the mill sites of UPM became models for Finnish industry.

Juuso Walden retired in 1970 and died in 1972.