- Earl Tupper
Infobox Person
name = Earl Tupper
image_size = 150px
caption = Earl Tupper
birth_name =
birth_date =July 28 ,1907
birth_place =Berlin, New Hampshire ,USA
death_date =October 5 ,1983
death_place =
death_cause =
resting_place =
resting_place_coordinates =
residence =
nationality =USA
other_names =
known_for =Tupperware
education =
employer =
occupation =
home_town =
title =
salary =
networth =
height =
weight =
term =
predecessor =
successor =
party =
boards =
religion =
spouse =
partner =
children =
parents =
relatives =
website =
footnotes =Earl Silas Tupper (
July 28 ,1907 –October 5 ,1983 ) was the inventor ofTupperware , an airtightplastic container for storingfood .Biography
Tupper was born on a
farm inBerlin, New Hampshire ,USA . After completing school, he began alandscaping and nursery business until theGreat Depression forced the business intobankruptcy . He then got a job with the DuPont Chemical Company.Creation of Tupperware
Using inflexible pieces of
polyethylene slag given to him by DuPont, Tupper purified the slag and molded it to create lightweight, non-breakable containers, cups, bowls, plates, and evengas mask s that were used inWorld War II . He later designed liquid-proof, airtight lids by duplicating the lid of apaint can.Tupper later founded the
Tupperware Plastics Company in 1938, and in 1946, he introduced Tupper Plastics to hardware and department stores. Around 1948, he joined forces withBrownie Wise who caught his attention after a lengthy phone call to his office in S. Grafton, (Farnumsville), Massachusetts. Based on amarketing strategy developed byBrownie Wise , aDetroit native, in the early 1950s, Tupperware was withdrawn from sale in retail stores and Tupperware "parties" soon became popular in homes within theUnited States and abroad, the first example of "party-plan" marketing which has since been successfully emulated by many others. The Corporate headquarters was moved from Massachusetts toOrlando, FL . After a falling-out with Wise, resulting in her 1958 dismissal, Tupper soon sold The Tupperware Company for $16 million to Rexall Drug (which became Dart Industries in 1969). Shortly afterwards, he divorced his wife, gave up hisU.S. citizenship to avoid taxes, and bought himself an island inCentral America . In 1984, the year after he died, hispatent on Tupperware expired.References
*PBS American Experience, People & Events: [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/tupperware/peopleevents/p_tupper.html Earl Silas Tupper (1907-1983)]
External links
* [http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/d8470a.htm Earl S. Tupper Papers, ca. 1914-1982] Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.