Replies

George Esseff Sr.

After 45 years in the titanium industry, George J. Esseff Sr. has decided to retire from Supra Alloys, Inc. George was one of the original entrepreneurs in the field of commercial usage of titanium. In his position as a chemist and metallurgist for the government in 1952, at Fort Belvor, VA, he worked with titanium. Later he developed and patented a titanium clad aluminum cored spline which became the basic component for the use of titanium for all other fixtures in anodizing racks. Esseff was at the forefront of developing applications for titanium in areas of the industrial markets such as the metal finishing industry (baskets, racks, coils, etc.), the chemical/petro-chemical field (vessels, heat exchangers, etc.) and recreational markets such as bicycles, marine hardware and others.
He founded Ticore Inc. which later became Futura Titanium also Cosmos Minerals which recently became Astro-Cosmos and Supra Alloys Inc. (SAI), his most recent company.
His dedication to expanding the use of titanium, along with a handful of other pioneers and his call for a titanium metals society, led the way for today's ITA. His vision of a global market in the late 60's helped lead to development of markets in Europe and cooperation with suppliers and manufacturers in Japan. His companies were involved in licensing technologies for bi-metal cladding and a variety of environmental types of equipment all of which were successfully marketed in the U.S.

Over the past few years and more recently due to some health problems George has become less involved in the day to day operation of SAI. George Esseff Jr. has picked up most of these responsibilities. As of May, 1997, George Sr. will officially retire and George Jr. will become President and CEO of SAI. George Sr. will remain on with the company as a consultant.