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Jim Lewis goes into the Army, and my work in WWII After WWII, I venture into fiberglass, Marrying Mike, and my heart problem Getting Dick Newpher to join me at Glastic
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Roger with Dick Newpher at Glastic |
My friend Newpher was then working at Reliance Electric and he showed me the very expensive porcelain insulator blocks which got very hot when used in confined underground tunnel projects. Dick suggested that perhaps I could create a less expensive fiberglass plastic structure to do the job. So I created a fiberglass plastic material which did the job nicely and cost a lot less.
After that I found other new cost saving applications and the business grew. I was good at getting new business but I was not good at running the shop and keeping my employees efficient and happy. The business grew and I knew that I needed a partner. I needed a guy like Dick Newpher and I asked him to join me in this venture.
He said "Sounds good. I'll come but we must be equal partners."
At first I thought that could be a great mistake. "If we are equal partners, how will we settle serious differences?" I asked him.
He said simply: "You decide. Those are my terms."
I was uneasy about this but I soon gave in. It could not have worked out better.
Twenty years later the Glastic business was making $100,000 annual profit. In 1968 William Treuhaft who was then president of Tremco Corp. and also one of our Glastic board of directors, offered to buy our business for $2,000,000. We both agreed to sell. So each of us went home that day with $1,000,000, in cash! I did not know what to do with the money. I had no experience with investing cash funds. I decided the safest way would be to invest in bonds. (Within a few days bond values on the market dropped nearly ten percent. Poor me! But, indeed, I was still a rich man.)
(Very recently (1997) I revisited Glastic. The growth of Glastic was remarkable. Among other things, Glastic was now making endless underground fiber optic telephone cable.)
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Jim Lewis goes into the Army, and my work in WWII After WWII, I venture into fiberglass, Marrying Mike, and my heart problem Getting Dick Newpher to join me at Glastic
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