We’ve learned that Robert J. Warren, the President Emeritus of LECO Corporation, has died at the age of 89. Warren helped build LECO — a pioneer in the development of carbon determination instrumentation for use in the iron and steel industry, and other types of analytic instrumentation for use in organic and metallographic analysis and separation science — into a scientific juggernaut. Thanks to his leadership, industries around the world have trusted LECO to deliver technologically advanced products and solutions for analytical science for more than 86 years.
A scientific journal, Select Science, summed up Warren’s career nicely in 2017 saying, “His integrity, vision, and leadership have been key components to the company’s success for the last 40 years. A driving force behind the diversification of products within the company, it was Warren’s leadership that moved LECO beyond its trademark carbon determination business and expanded into areas of analysis for the organic, metallographic, and separation science industries.”
It was in that year, 2017, that he was honored with the Pittcon Heritage Award for his contribution to scientific instrumentation. The Heritage Award has been given since 2002, presented jointly by Pittcon and the Chemical Heritage Foundation, and is meant to “honor visionaries whose entrepreneurial careers shaped the instrumentation and laboratory supplies community, and by doing so have transformed the scientific community at large.”
In 1968, Warren joined the family-owned Laboratory Equipment Corporation (LECO) which was founded in 1936 by Carl E. Schultz and business partners including George Krasl and Joseph Sauer. Carl Schultz’s sister was Olga Krasl, George Krasl’s wife, and Bob Warren’s wife Elizabeth was Carl Schultz’s daughter.
LECO has long been recognized as a leader in materials analysis. The company’s first product was a carbon analyzer, a rapid carbon determinator designed to analyze the amount of carbon in steel or iron automatically within minutes. They expanded into die casting, ceramics, glass blowing, plating, and electronics. The company developed a wide range of products for laboratory analysis, including induction furnaces for the analysis of carbon and sulphur, metallurgical apparatus for rapid field analysis, and zircon porcelain and glassware for laboratory use.
In 1967, LECO opened its first international office in Germany, and Warren was instrumental in the company’s ongoing expansion into Europe and Asia. In 1971, the company received an “E” Award for Exports from President Richard Nixon (authorized on his behalf by Secretary of Commerce Maurice Stans.) The company reported an increase in overseas sales from 17- to 50-percent of its production, over the previous five years. LECO had expanded its production facilities as a result of the demand. As executive vice president and general manager of the firm, Robert Warren was chosen to receive the “E” Award on behalf of the company, which attributed its success in part to the establishment of high customer service standards, including careful handling of equipment, selection and training of distributors, and support for staff and customers in their local languages.
In 1976, Warren was named President and General Manager of LECO, and his wife Elizabeth became vice-president. By 1977, LECO had established international subsidiaries in Brazil, Canada, England, France, West Germany, Sweden and South Africa, in addition to its headquarter offices in St. Joseph and manufacturing plants in the United States. The company also has facilities in Henderson, Nevada, and Fort Meyers, Florida, and more than 30 subsidiaries worldwide, plus additional international distributors. On June 8, 1977, the Warrens bought the company’s outstanding stock from the George J. Krasl Trust, represented by his widow Olga S. Krasl.
Under Warren’s direction, LECO’s research and development expanded, from manufacturing analytical instruments for metals and inorganics, to add manufacturing analytical instruments for organics. Analysis of organics brought LECO into the coal, oil, agricultural, and food industries. Warren also encouraged the incorporation of computing and data management capabilities into LECO’s instruments. By the 1980s, LECO was developing multi-element analytical instruments for inductively coupled plasma, glow discharge, atomic emission spectroscopy, and time-of-flight mass spectrometry. In 1997, LECO introduced a 500-spectra-per-second time-of-flight mass spectrometer, suitable for use in separation science. LECO also developed instruments for comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography.
In 2006, the company opened the doors to their Global Support Center in St. Joseph — a facility dedicated to providing customers with service, training, and additional support after the sale of their instrument. A global network of service professionals help ensure customers around the world receive the service they need.
Metallographic and analytical laboratories at LECO’s new Customer Experience Center on Hilltop
Road and their mass spectrometry lab at the Elizabeth S. Warren Technical Centre, opened in 2012, provide application assistance, instrument demonstrations, and technical presentations for new and current customers, while their optical service laboratory offers accredited calibrations for hardness testing and microscopy equipment.
Bob Warren retired as President of LECO in 2016. The following year, 2017, LECO announced construction of a new building on the St. Joseph campus to be named in his honor.
In 2004, the Warrens and others arranged for the sale of LECO land in the Silver Beach area, to be transferred to Berrien County and the city of St. Joseph for educational and recreational use. The Warrens greatly supported the Silver Beach Carousel Society, which built a new carousel in that area, to replace one previously located in the Silver Beach Amusement Park. They were also instrumental in the creation and growth of one of the longest-running and most popular annual community events, the Venetian Festival.
In his retirement role as President Emeritus, Warren was an advisor to LECO’s Co-Presidents Carl Warren and Chris Warren as they continue to shepherd the firm through its third generation of family ownership.
