A former executive director of the Society of Plastics Engineers, who spent more than 30 years with the organization, has died.
Robert Forger, of Newtown, Conn., died Jan. 24. He was 94.
Forger joined SPE in 1959, working as member services director, conference manager and associate executive director before executive director in 1971. The professional organization more thwn doubled in size during his leadership tenure that lasted 21 years until his retirement in 1992.
His career also included leadership positions for the Plastics Education Foundation and the National Plastics Museum. He was an adviser to the University of Massachusetts Lowell's plastics engineering curriculum advisory committee. His work helped create the nation's first degree in plastics engineering at the school.
Forger was enshrined into the Plastics Hall of Fame in 1997.
Forger was born on May 24, 1928, the son of Alois and Elsie Forger. He graduated from Norwich University in Northfield, Vt., with a chemistry degree in 1949. He married his wife, Eleanor, in May 1951. He worked as an engineer and then manager of technical publicity for Dorr-Oliver in Stamford, Conn., before moving to SPE.
Survivors include son Gary and his wife, Felicia, of Newton, Mass.; granddaughter Lauren Carreiro and her husband, Jay, of Norfolk, Mass.; and daughter-in-law Patricia Forger of Bethel, Conn. He was preceded in death by his wife and their son Jeffrey Forger. Eleanor died in 2022 after 71 years of marriage.
Plastics News profiled Forger when he was inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame.
"The good thing is, I always loved my job. There was never a morning that I didn't want to get out of bed and go to work. I always loved what I was doing," he said at the time.