The Polyurethane Foam Association has posthumously inducted two foam industry leaders and innovators into the Flexible Polyurethane Foam Hall of Fame.
The ceremony honoring Bob Bush Sr. and E. Rhodes Carpenter took place during a PFA meeting in May in Baltimore.
Bush was a founder of the Loudon, Tenn.–based PFA. He played a pivotal role in the development of the flexible polyurethane foam and furniture industries throughout his 50–year career at Hickory Springs Mfg. Co., a Hickory, N.C.–based supplier of bedding and furniture components and one of the largest polyurethane foam producers in the country.
He received both the Robert MacMorran Memorial Award (1989) and the Russell Abolt Exceptional Service Award (1998) from the International Sleep Products Association and was inducted into the American Furniture Hall of Fame in 2006. Bush retired from Hickory Springs in 2002 as executive vice president of sales. He died in 2010 at age 78.
Accepting the Hall of Fame honor on his behalf were Bush’s sons, Bobby Bush Jr. and Jimmy Bush. Both are members of the Hickory Springs management team and are active in the U.S. foam, furniture and mattress industries.
Carpenter, founder of Richmond, Va.–based Carpenter Co., started as a distributor of Goodyear latex rubber and built his company into one of the world’s leading producers of comfort cushioning products for a variety of industries, including bedding. Today, Carpenter Co. has 19 foam production plants, 4,700 employees and 56 global locations. Carpenter semiretired in 1965 and died in 1980. His legacy lives on through the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, founded in 1975.
Accepting the Hall of Fame honor on Carpenter’s behalf were Ed Malechek, Carpenter Co. president; Myron H. (Bud) Reinhart, retired Carpenter Co. president; and Ann Day, Carpenter’s stepdaughter and president and chairwoman of the board of the Carpenter foundation.
The Flexible Polyurethane Foam Hall of Fame, online at www.pfa.org, was established to recognize individuals and corporations that have significantly contributed to the growth and betterment of the flexible polyurethane foam industry in North America.
