LEE-ROWAN EXECUTIVE ENTERS ENTREPRENEURIAL HALL OF FAME

ST. LOUIS E. Desmond Lee, chairman of Lee-Rowan Manufacturing Co. with facilities in St. Louis and Jackson, has been inducted into the "Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame" sponsored by the Housewares Club of New England.

"Individuals who are inducted into our Hall of Fame are people who have created a product or idea and turned it into a separate industry within the housewares retail segment," said Fred Garmon, chairman of the 60-year-old Housewares Club.

"To be among the other individuals who are in the Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame is an honor for me," said Lee. "It is gratifying to be associated with innovative people like Karl Sondheimer, who founded Cuisinart, and Vince Marotta, who started Mr. Coffee."

Sondheimer and Marotta are former inductees into the hall. Inducted with Lee during the club's annual ceremonies this month were: Richard Stern, president, Associated Mills, Inc.-Pollenex; and Charles Peifer, vice president and general manager of Consumer Products Corning Inc.

Other members previously inducted include Lewis Salton of Bendow Inc.; John Bissell of Bissell Co.; Dan Ferguson of Newell Companies; Leonard Florence of Towle Silver Co.; and Lee Rizzuto of Conair Inc.

Lee-Rowan was founded in 1939 by Desmond Lee's father, Edgar D. Lee, and John V. Rowan. The company's first products were metal trouser creasers that were sold to Sears, Roebuck and Co. and JCPenney, which have been Lee-Rowan customers for 50 years.

During World War II, the firm, unable to obtain steel for the trouser creasers, started manufacturing arming wires for bombs. After the war, the firm experimented with new products that eventually led to Storage Systems by Lee-Rowan.

Today the firm offers not only the hangers but a complete line of ventilated storage products and an assortment of traditional closet accessories.

The firm manufactures and distributes home organizational products in the U.S., Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, Australia, and Caribbean Basin.

Sales in 1991 were $90 million, a 15 percent increase over 1990. Lee predicted that sales in 1992 will top the $100 million mark.

Many of the products are manufactured in Jackson, where more than a half-million square feet of space is devoted to the manufacture of products.

When Lee-Rowan opted to expand its St. Louis operation in 1964, company officials selected a site at Jackson, constructed a 42,500-square-foot building and put about 25 people to work. The plant has undergone eight additions and employs more than 700 people.