John Thorp

John D. Thorp was born in Freis, Virginia on Apr 25, 1921. He departed on Sep. 17, 2010 and resided in Chagrin Falls, Ohio and Vero Beach, Florida John age 89 was the beloved husband of Esther T. Thorp. He was the beloved father of Katie T. Boyer, Cary T. Brown, Jack Thorp and Ada T. Huang. He was the adored grandfather of Elizabeth P. Thorp, John D. Thorp II, Clare B. Redhead, Willis B. Boyer, Jennifer T. Robertson, David Boyer, Benjamin Brown, Fiona Brown, Ewa Huang and Andrew Huang and great grandfather to Paul, Wesley and Livia Redhead; Cohen Boyer; Theo Robertson; and Adrian Boyer. He was the stepfather to Bill, Andy and Chip Matthes, and step grandfather to Max and Anna Matthes; Raine, Quinn and West Matthes and Colby and Olivia Matthes. Predeceasing John was his beloved first wife Ada K. Thorp. John was a graduate of Freis, Virginia High School, Class of 1938, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Class of 1942 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, and received an MBA from the Harvard Business School in June of 1949. John was a Lt. JG in the Navy from 1942-1946 and fought in the South Pacific, with the Pacific Carrier Fleet, assigned to the USS Randolph, a light carrier. John moved to Cleveland from Connecticut with his wife Ada in 1949 and started what was his first of many manufacturing businesses in the Cleveland area. Named after his ship, the USS Randolph, his first company Randolph Mfg was a job shop located on Euclid Ave, where the Free Clinic is today. He bought one of the first Lapmasters a new piece of equipment that could grind metals to aviation tolerances. He moved to Shaw Ave later in the 50's and at that time bought a pump design company and decided to try to produce a revolutionary aircraft vacuum pump that used no oil for lubrication, instead it used carbon fiber. That gamble was a success and the business grew larger and he moved it to Elyria, Ohio and eventually he and his partners sold it to Parker Hannafin in 1975. At that time the Airborne vacuum pump was the No. 1 vacuum pump for general aviation. In 1976, wanting to get back to his love of manufacturing, bearings and aviation products he started Tribon Bearing Company, located on the west side of Cleveland, a producer of graphite and composite high temperature bearings for aerospace and other markets. He left this company in 1986 after he decided he wanted to pursue the high temperature bearing markets and became the President of a new company called Dexter Composites, a joint venture with Dexter Inc. He and several of the executives bought the shares in this company from Dexter in 1992 and renamed it Hycomp Inc. Hycomp's goal was to be an innovative leader in the high temperature plastic, plastic composite and graphite composite bearing markets centered around a new resin called PMR-15 and the use of long carbon fiber that could work at temperatures as high as 500-600 degrees F. Hycomp received several patents for their cutting edge technologies most important being a sheet molding compound that not only could be used in aerospace applications, but also steel mills, aluminum mills and many other high temperature industrial applications. He sold his shares in Hycomp in 2000 to SMS, a German company interested in these markets and retired after 51 years of operating manufacturing businesses in the Cleveland area. He also was one of three principals in the start up of plastic manufacturing business called Cast Nylons Ltd from 1979-1987 that produces cast nylon stock shapes for the bearing markets, his son Jack bought out all the shareholders in 1987. During his years as President of Airborne Mfg he was also a pilot, owning several aircraft, accumulating 700 hours of flight time with ratings in Instrument flying and twins. He was the Past President of the Harvard Business Club of Cleveland and involved in Cleveland charity work for many years. Pursuing his love for art, he founded and funded an art work program for inner city children with Karamu House. Memorial Donations may be made in his name to The John's Island Foundation, 3005 Cardinal Dr, Vero Beach, FL 32963 or The Community Church of Vero Beach, 1901 23rd St, Vero Beach, FL, 32960. Memorial Services are to be held at GARFIELD UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, 3650 LANDER ROAD, PEPPER PIKE, OHIO 44124 AT 12 o'clock PM ON SEPTEMBER 24, 2010.


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