Willard Paul Zimmerman - Former Employee of Hemingray Glass Company

Deaths and Funerals

W. P. Zimmerman;

Ex-Official at

Hemingray, O-I

Willard Paul Zimmerman, 85, former secretary-treasurer of the Hemingray Glass Company on South Macedonia Avenue and later general manager of the firm after it was acquired by Owens-Illinois Glass Co., died Wednesday in Toledo, Ohio.

Mr. Zimmerman moved to Toledo in the mid-1930s to become manager of the O-I industrial material division, and he served as acting president of Owens-Illinois from 1942-1945. In the interim he had served as vice president for manufacturing and sales of the Owens-Corning Fiberglas Division following that company's formation in 1938.

While he was in Muncie, Mr. Zimmerman and Minot K. Holmes developed the process that started glass block on its way as a staple building material. His name is on the invention covering the method of welding two halves of glass block, a method used by O-I in manufacturing Insulux. He also held patents for binders which he developed for the manufacture of residential, commercial, and industrial insulation, major Owens products.

He served as executive vice president of Owens-Illinois from 1946-56. He was awarded honorary doctorate degrees in 1964 by the University of Toledo and in 1973 by Miami (Ohio) University, his alma mater. He was a former trustee of Miami.

A native of Washington Court House, Ohio, Mr. Zimmerman graduated from Miami in 1917 and was an all-Ohio tackle for three years; one of his Miami football teammates was Earl (Red) Blake, later coach at the United States Military Academy. He was a recipient of the National Football Hall of Fame distinguished service award.

During World War I he served in Europe with the 83rd Ohio Infantry Regiment. He was with the American Seeding Machine Company in Springfield, Ohio, 1918-20, prior to coming to Muncie. The Zimmerman family home was at 507 Riverside Avenue.

Mr. Zimmerman was active in a number of Toledo civic and philanthropic organizations, and in professional groups in the glass manufacturing business. He was a 33rd degree Mason and a member of the Collingwood Presbyterian Church.

Survivors include a son, Willard Paul Zimmerman, Jr., Indianapolis, a daughter, Mrs. Doris Jean Fox, Toledo. Services will be at 11 a.m., Saturday, in the Bennett Funeral Home, Toledo, where callers will be received after 7 p.m. tonight. Memorials may be directed to the charity of the donor's choice.