William H. Gesell (June 8, 1890 – June 6, 1956) was an American

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, business executive and director of Lehn & Fink Products Corporation in Bloomfield, New Jersey, now Sterling Drug. He served as the 2nd president of the

Society for Advancement of Management The Society for the Advancement of Management, commonly known as SAM, is the oldest among professional management societies. On November 11, 1910 colleagues of Frederick W. Taylor met at the New York Athletic Club to discuss and promote the princ ...

in the years 1937-1939.

Biography

Youth and early career

Gesell was born in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, where he graduated from in 1911. After graduation he started his career as engineer with Lehn & Fink, Inc. In the late 1910s at Lehn & Fink, Inc. Gesell supervised the completion of a new plant in Hoboken, N. J., including supervision of the machinery and power plant. After its completion William H. Gesell has been appointed general manager of the Lehn & Fink plant.

Later career and honours

By 1924 at Lehn & Fink, Inc. Gesell was works manager, by 1931 Vice President, and by 1941 President of the company. Gesell also served as president of the Society for Advancement of Management in the years 1937-1939 as successor of

Ordway Tead Ordway Tead (10 September 1891 – November 1973)MLW, "Tead, Ordway (1891–1973)," in: ''Encyclopedia of History of American Management,'' Morgen Witzel (ed.), 2005. p. 495. was an American organizational theorist, adjunct professor of industrial r ...

, and was succeeded by Myron Henry Clark. In 1939 he was awarded the

Taylor Key The Taylor Key Award is one of the highest awards of the Society for Advancement of Management. This management awards is awarded annually to one or more persons for "the outstanding contribution to the advancement of the art and science of managem ...

Award, one of the highest awards of the Society for Advancement of Management.SAM, ''S.A.M. advanced management journal,'' 1963. p. 40Special Libraries Association. Science-Technology Division, Margaret A. Firth. ''Handbook of scientific and technical awards in the United States and ....'' 1956. p. 364

Selected publications

* William H. Gesell.
Edible product and process of making the same
" U.S. Patent No 1,475,574, 1923.

References

External links

Cosmetics and Skin: Lehn and Fink
about the history of Lehn & Fink. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gesell, William H. 1890 births 1956 deaths 20th-century American engineers American business executives Columbia University alumni University of Michigan alumni People from Jersey City, New Jersey Engineers from New Jersey