BOYERTOWN, PA. (Oct. 16, 4:20 p.m. ET) — Drug packaging pioneer Frederick Biesecker died Oct. 12 at the age of 74.
Biesecker and his wife Suzanne founded Drug Plastics and Glass Co. in 1963 and over the years turned the business into a major blow molder and injection molder of prescription vials with headquarters in Boyertown, Pa.
Biesecker is survived by his wife Suzanne, a son and two daughters, their spouses and their children. Visitation is invited in Boyertown on Oct. 19 and 20.
In addition to serving on the Society of Plastics Engineers, for which he received a Lifetime Achievement Award, Biesecker was extensively involved in charitable work, including the American Diabetes Association and the Children’s Circle of Care Society.
Biesecker was a current member of the Board of Trustees of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He founded the Fred and Suzanne Biesecker Pediatric Liver Center at Children’s Hospital and established a chair in Biliary Atresia.
Biesecker’s blow molding business, Drug Plastics & Glass Co. Inc., had sales of about $140 million in 2011, according to unpublished data from Plastics News. The business runs six plants in the United States. A sister company, Drug Plastics Closures Inc., injection molds closures at two U.S. plants and had sales of about $49 million last year. Drug Plastics & Glass acquired the closures business in 2001.
The two businesses supply health care and pharmaceutical customers and include special closures for child-proofing and for seniors.
Biesecker attended Scranton Central High School and Penn State University.
