Donald Weder

Donald Weder (born 1947) of Highland, Illinois is an American inventor and businessman. Weder is one of the most prolific inventors in history, with 954^[1] utility patents.

Biography

A lifetime resident of Highland, Illinois, a rural Illinois town 30 miles ENE of St. Louis, Weder is a summa cum laude graduate of Bradley University, where he was in the honor societies Phi Kappa Phi and Zeta Pi (honorary business fraternity).^{[citation needed]}

Highland Supply Corporation

Since 1977, Donald Weder has been President of Highland Supply Corporation or "HSC".^[2] Founded in 1937 by Donald Weder's father, Erwin Weder, HSC was relatively small until Donald Weder used his patents to grow the company. HSC is now one of the world's leading manufacturers of floral and decorative packaging products with facilities throughout the United States, as well as in Mexico offering over 12,000 products for the floriculture industry. Highland Supply Corporation has received widespread recognition^{[by whom?]} for its commitment to environmentally safe, water based inks. Over the past three decades, Highland Supply claims to have planted well over 100,000 trees at various sites and preserved over 1000 acres of timberland.

Patents

As at August 3, 2011, Weder holds 954^[1] utility patents and 409^[3] design patents for a total of 1363^[4] US patents.

Weder's patents are all related to the floristry industry, and specifically to various ways and materials to wrap flowers and flower pots.

Weder is the first of three inventors to pass Thomas Edison in total number of issued US Patents (including design patents), having done so on August 6, 2002 with the issuance of his 1094th patent^[5] (Edison had 1093^[6] US patents, and a total of 2323^[7] US and international utility patents).

He has since been passed by Shunpei Yamazaki of Japan and Kia Silverbrook of Australia.

Weder's patents are owned by the Weder Family Trust, an offshore asset protection trust of which his wife Wanda Weder is trustee, administered by Southpac Trusts Limited.^[8]

Awards and recognitions

Weder has been honored by civic, inventor and floral industry organizations for his philanthropy as well as his inventorship.

• Thomas Edison award from the US Patent Office in August 2002 for having passed Edison on August 6, 2002 to become the #1 most prolific American US patent holder (2002)
• 1st recipient of the "Donald E Weder Inventor of the Year Award" by the Illinois Innovators and Inventors, Inc. (2002)
• two three-year terms on the Society of American Florists (SAF) Wholesalers Council
• three-year term on the SAF Board of Directors
• chairman of the SAF Building Committee
• four years as Chairman of the Wholesale Florists and Florist Suppliers Association (WF&FSA)Young Executives
• Board of Trustees for the American Floral Endowment

See also

List of prolific inventors

References

1. ^ ^{a b} USPTO Utility Patent Search for Donald Weder
2. ^ http://ultimatefloralindustrysupplyguide.com/company.php?id=96545&company=Highland+Supply+Corporation
3. ^ USPTO Design Patent Search for Donald Weder
4. ^ USPTO Patent Search for Donald Weder
5. ^ http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=0&f=S&l=50&d=PTXT&RS=%28IN%2F%28%22Weder%2C+Donald%22+OR+%22Donald%2C+Weder%22%29+AND+ISD%2F19760101-%3E20020805%29&Refine=Refine+Search&Refine=Refine+Search&Query=IN%2F%28%22Weder%2C+Donald%22+or+%22Donald%2C+Weder%22%29+and+ISD%2F19760101-%3E20020806
6. ^ "The Thomas Edison Papers"
7. ^ Edison's Foreign Patents (add 1084 U.S. Utility patents)
8. ^ http://www.southpacinstitute.com Southpac Group

External links

• Highland Supply website

Persondata
Name	Weder, Donald
Alternative names
Short description	American inventor and businessman
Date of birth	1947
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death