HATFIELD, PA. (Dec. 13, 1 p.m. ET) — Irving Glickman, the founder of injection molder Rodon Group LLC, died Nov. 19 at Abington Memorial Hospital in Abington, Pa. He was 100.
Glickman earned a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University in 1934. He majored in biology, planning to go on to medical or dental school. But to earn a living, he became a chemist at a uncle’s rubber factory.
He joined Franklin Rubber Co. in Philadelphia. Then, during World War II, he worked at Quaker Rubber, developing synthetic rubber for the war effort.
Glickman and a partner, Leon Coltman, operated Elgo Rubber Products in Philadelphia. Glickman saw the potential of plastics, and they started Rodon in 1956, with four Stokes injection molding presses in his garage. After the war, the company expanded to a small factory. Then in 1987, Rodon built the current factory in Hatfield, a suburb of Philadelphia.
In 1991, his son, Joel Glickman, invented the K’Nex plastic construction toy. Rodon molds many of the K’Nex parts, and also does custom molding.
Today, Rodon runs 106 automated injection molding machines. Rodon and K’Nex have a total of 170 employees.
