Richard Samuel Reynolds Sr. was the founder of the U.S. Foil Company.

Early life

Reynolds was born on August 15, 1881 in

Madison County, North Carolina Madison County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,193. Its county seat is Marshall. Madison County is part of the Asheville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. History The ...

. He was the nephew of leading tobacco producer R.J. Reynolds and the son of Major Abraham David Reynolds (August 13, 1847 – September 1925). He married Julia Louise Parham on December 21, 1904. Reynolds was the father of Richard S. Reynolds Jr. (1909–1969), who was the founder of Reynolds & Co., a brokerage firm that merged with Dean Witter & Co. in 1978 to form

Dean Witter Reynolds Dean Witter Reynolds was an American stock brokerage and securities firm catering to a variety of clients. Prior to the company's acquisition, it was among the largest firms in the securities industry with over 9,000 account executives (ranking ...

Career

Reynolds left the University of Virginia in 1903 to join the

R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) is an American tobacco manufacturing company based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and headquartered at the RJR Plaza Building. Founded by R. J. Reynolds in 1875, it is the second-largest tobacco comp ...

, working for his uncle, who had founded the company. Reynolds was in part responsible for the company's switch from the production of chewing to smoking tobacco and the launch of

Camel cigarettes Camel is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in the United States and by Japan Tobacco outside the U.S. Most current Camel cigarettes contain a blend of Turkish tobacco and Virg ...

. In 1912, Reynolds left R.J. Reynolds to go into business for himself. Shortly after World War I, Reynolds founded the U.S. Foil Company in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. Among the company's early partners were R.J. Reynolds and the British-American Tobacco Company. The company's original business was to roll tin and lead foil for cigarette packaging. Among other innovations, Reynolds devised a moisture-preserving tobacco tin. Later the switch to aluminum foil was made. In 1947, his company introduced Reynolds Wrap. It was sold around the world, it transformed food storage.

Reynolds Metals Reynolds Group Holdings is a New Zealand based packaging company with roots in the former Reynolds Metals Company, which was the second-largest aluminum company in the United States, and the third-largest in the world. Reynolds Metals was acquire ...

was the second-largest aluminum company in the United States and the third-largest in the world. The Richmond, Virginia, company was bought by ALCOA in 2000.

References

1881 births 1955 deaths American manufacturing businesspeople R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company people Reynolds family People from Madison County, North Carolina {{1880s-US-business-bio-stub