Carl Gerstacker

Carl Gerstacker (August 6, 1916 – April 23, 1995) was an American chemical industrialist and philanthropist who expanded the American multinational conglomerate Dow Chemical. A graduate of the University of Michigan, he served on Dow's board of directors for 34 years, 17 as chairman. He also shared his knowledge and experience by serving on boards of dozens of civic organizations and corporations.

Early years

Carl Gerstacker was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1916. He was the younger of two children of Rollin Gerstacker, an engineer at a boat machinery manufacturer, and his wife, Edna Helen Uhinck. From age 5, Carl and sister Elsa spent their summers in Midland, Michigan with their Aunt Elsa and Uncle James. At the time, James Pardee was chairman of the board at Dow Chemical.

From his early years his father ingrained a sense of business, with interest in the stock market. Gerstacker saved money earned from a paper route and other jobs in a bank account. In 1930, his father urged him to invest his savings in the Dow Chemical Company, which he did.

Business

After graduating from Lincoln High School in 1934, Gerstacker moved to Midland, living with his aunt and uncle. James T. Pardee was a college classmate of Herbert H. Dow, and when Dow organized the Dow Chemical Company in 1897, Pardee became a member of the board of directors. Gerstacker was hired as a lab assistant at Dow Chemical and enrolled at the University of Michigan through Dow's employee education program. He also joined Reserve Officers' Training Corps to get paid 20¢ per day. Gerstacker commented, "Twenty cents a day was good stuff. When I graduated, I was a second lieutenant in the reserves. I made up my mind to resign as soon as I could, but you couldn’t resign immediately."

War

Gerstacker returned to work at Dow for $115/month while his active-duty training as a reserve officer continued as required. His degree was in chemical engineering, he was assigned to work as an auditor at Dowell, a Dow subsidiary that serviced oil wells. The country was experiencing a small recession at the time, so he did as asked. His supervisor constantly reminded him to be accurate and analyze everything carefully. At the time, he also wondered if people were nice because he did a good job or because he was the nephew of the chairman. He viewed his army duty as an opportunity where no one knew him and he would be judged on his own merit. In late 1940, he had saved enough money to purchase a car, but he could be called to active duty at any time. He contacted the Army to ask when to expect active duty and was told to report to the Detroit Ordnance District as soon as he was available, so a few weeks later he arrived in Detroit. On December 11, 1940, the colonel in charge noted his ROTC ordnance training and announced, "You’re going to be an artillery expert."

However, his training would not start until mid-February, so he was sent to Battle Creek, Michigan. Duplex Printing Press Company was a nearly bankrupt company that had a contract to manufacture 37mm cartridges for overseas but missed multiple scheduled deadlines. Gerstacker's financial and organizational skills were critical when he reorganized their top management for the supervision of 500 workers.
He was in charge of teaching workers their jobs and making certain everything was done correctly. A few days before February 15, 1941, he left
Michigan for Illinois and reported at Rock Island Arsenal for six-weeks of training to be an Army ordnance inspector. After he completed training, he returned to Battle Creek, but in April 1941, he contracted the measles and spent several weeks under quarantine at Fort Custer.

He was promoted to First Lieutenant on June 20, 1941, after his release. Gerstacker continued his work at Duplex, but the ordnance department in Detroit recognized him as a troubleshooter and required him to commute regularly between Battle Creek and Detroit. After a year at Duplex, they received the "E"-excellence Award as a military supplier. He wanted to join the fight overseas, but the Army considered him too valuable where he was. In late October, he was promoted to Chief of Artillery Division in Detroit, responsible for 100 ordnance inspectors across Michigan doing what he had done at Duplex. He not only traveled throughout Michigan, but who were imbedded in businesses making war equipment like he had been. This required him to not only travel throughout the state but also Massachusetts, Washington, D.C. and Ohio.

In May 1942, he received a promotion to captain and was ordered to supervise manufacturers of 37mm, 57m, 75mm and 3-inch mobile artillery carriages. He was also assigned to a ''Industry Integrating Committee'' to facilitate cooperation between companies manufacturing similar equipment. Gerstacker explained, "If one company was short of something, another company could help them out. If one company could make a part better, that company would make that part in order to push out more stuff and do it better." This collaboration made a tremendous difference in war production.

Gerstacker relocated to Reading, Pennsylvania in January 1943, to work with Parrish Pressed Steel and other companies in the Philadelphia Ordnance District. He received an education in administration by working collaboratively with geographically diverse companies from Maine to Louisiana to Saskatchewan. He occasionally worked eleven-hour shifts alongside the men repairing artillery.

In June 1943 he was sent to a manufacturing plant that "in trouble" with an impossible problem for him to resolve. He constantly found himself on a train or driving throughout the Midwest and east coast. He wrote home, "…seems like everything I work on is an extreme emergency." The company leaders typically received credit for their achievements, but one company wrote to the brass,
"We very much appreciated the assistance given us by Captain Gerstacker who truly worked hard on this project and deserves much credit for its being accomplished on time."

Gerstacker felt guilty about not being in the fight because of his status: "young, healthy, and single" Letters from home talked about his married friends being sent overseas. In November 1943, he went for training at Maryland's Aberdeen Proving Ground to prepare for field duty. Overalls were required for the work and drills were held every day. He wrote home, "I’ve learned a lot. Am afraid my chances of going overseas were not very good. They have a lot of officers doing nothing but waiting for an assignment and many more who could be more easily replaced than I and who are better trained for field duty." His superiors rejected his request for overseas duty, so he headed back to Pennsylvania.

In early 1944, he was assigned to the Chicago Ordnance District as a field representative. On May 30, 1944, he was sent to New York City Ordnance Department for the rest of the war. He worked in the Bronx with R. Hoe Company. The company had developed special methods to assemble carriages. Gerstacker worked on the Major Caliber Anti-Aircraft Carriage Industry Integration Committee as the ordnance representative. He authored a report on their work which was historical.

Early in 1945, frustrated by promotion delays, Gerstacker spoke to a general who said, "he would make me major tomorrow if he had vacancies — said my efficiency report was highest he had ever seen." After hospitalization for pneumonia in May, Gerstacker received the promotion to major on June 1, 1945. Two months later he returned to Washington, D.C. as a special assistant. Two weeks after the war ended, Gerstacker began a six-month assignment to instruct employees at Boston's Arthur D. Little Company on artillery. They were contracted to create a storage plan for World War II artillery for another war.

Post-war

Gerstacker considered making a career in the Army; he could retire after another twelve years. However, he received a letter from Stephen Starks, Dow's director of technical employment offering re-employment, and he liked the company.

He began Army terminal leave in February and was discharged as a major on May 5, 1946. He resumed work in his old Dow job and transferred to the purchasing department as an expeditor in August. He began using the skills gained during his military service and retired from the Army reserves on April 1, 1953.
Elsa and James Pardee both died in 1944, and their house passed to Eda, Carl Gerstacker's mother, who was still living in Cleveland. He ascended the corporate ladder quickly, added to Dow's board of directors in 1948 and named company assistant treasurer in 1949.

Family

On October 22, 1950, he married Jayne Harris Cunningham, society reporter for the Midland Daily News. Gerstacker purchased the Pardee House from his mother for their home. The couple had two children: Bette (1951) and Lisa (1955).

Executive

He was named vice-president in 1955 and joined Dow's executive committee the following year. Gerstacker was named chairman of the board in 1960.
Ted Doan succeeded Leland Doan as Dow President and CEO in 1962. Doan formed a management trioka with Gerstacker responsible for finance and marketing; Ben Branch

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