Lee Carver Jr., founder of silicone molder Sil-Pro LLC and Rubber & Plastics News Executive of the Year in 2005 died Dec. 2 after a long battle with cancer. The U.S. Army veteran was 84.
Carver held many roles in rubber manufacturing during his career, starting as an entry-level molder in the 1960s thanks to a recommendation from his brother, and working his way up into management. Roughly three and a half decades later, when most professionals would be looking forward to retirement, Carver founded a successful silicone manufacturing company, Sil-Pro, which employed 350 people before it was sold to Trelleborg Group in 2019.
Carver established the Delano, Minn.-based firm in 1999 and continued to lead its consistent growth for seven years before his semi-retirement in 2006. The company added plastics injection molding in 2011.
In 2004, Carver oversaw a five-phase expansion that more than doubled its operating space. During that expansion Sil-Pro added numerous production capabilities from a tool shop to an expanded clean room. Just five years earlier, Carver was directly involved in the molding, milling and trimming operations and, according to friend and former colleague Brian Higgins, he was always an expert salesperson.
"I learned so much from [Carver] about the industry and sales, some of which I am still using today," said Higgins, who was hired by Carver to be Sil-Pro's first-ever director of sales in 2002. Higgins previously worked with Carver's son Kevin, who took over the top executive position at Sil-Pro when his father semi-retired.
One of Higgins' most vivid memories of Carver was a suggestion to deliver parts directly to customers as a way to stand out from competitors. It is a practice Higgins still uses today in his role as business development manager at rubber manufacturer Precision Associates.
"He treated customers, employees and vendors with respect and in turn they all were willing to work hard for him or give him their business," Higgins said. "That focus on servicing the customer was always at the top of his mind."
One of the reasons that Carver was named Rubber & Plastics News Executive of the Year in 2005 was Sil-Pro's sales had virtually doubled in its first five years of operation. By the time Carver fully retired in 2008, he had worked for nearly 45 years in the rubber manufacturing industry.
Carver said it was up to the customers to judge whether Sil-Pro was doing its job properly.
"We will not determine when and if we are a world-class operation; the customers will," he told RPN in 2005. "We think we have the right things in place and we will have that goal in our sights at all times. But ultimately it's up to the customers."
His first job in the industry was at Minnesota Rubber, where he took a job while engaged to his then-fiance Jean, to whom he was married to for 58 years. Carver later worked for Hiawatha Rubber Co. in Minneapolis, and eventually went to nearby firms Rubber Industries Inc. and Industrial Molded Rubber Products Inc., before helping to start silicone molding company Charles Vogel Inc. in 1985.
Soon after, Carver joined ProMed Molded Products in Minneapolis, convincing the company to add a clean room and focus more on the medical silicone sector. It did not take long before influential companies in the industry trusted Carver's new company to provide them with critical parts. Two of Sil-Pro's early customers included Medtronic and St. Jude Medical, which was acquired by Abbott Laboratories in 2017.
"Just think of ow many lives would be different if he didn't make the decisions he did," Higgins said. "He went to companies and just helped them grow—no matter where he went."
Carver planned the Sil-Pro succession and transition to his son Kevin as president in 2006. He worked an average of three days a week for another two years until his 2008 retirement. In retirement, he spent time collecting and working on Corvettes and hot rods, even starting a local Corvette club. He was an enthusiast of car shows, his grandchildren, and following the news.
The lifelong Minnesota resident is survived by his wife Jean; children Kevin (Kathi) Carver, Angie (Chris) Neisen and Stacy (Craig) Furtney; brothers Eddie Carver and John (Pat) Carver; sister Carol Jackson; and eight grandchildren.