Today's Featured Biography

 
Fred Carus

In the fall of 1959, I headed for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan - known as the Copper Country. The next four years brought many great hockey games, skiing for college credit (we would get up to 300" of snow during the winter), winning the competition at Winter Carnival, golfing at Michigan Tech's own course and finally a B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering in 1963.

This led me to the panhandle of West Virginia where International Nickel had a 3,000 person rolling mill. I joined a staff of 40 metallurgists who were busy making high nickel alloys for the Vietnam effort - turbine blades for high performance jets, boiler tubes for nuclear submarines and many other industrial applications. Life in Huntington is well described in the movie, "We are Marshall." It brings back many happy memories of a young engineer with a new 1965 four on the floor Mustang Convertible.

I decided to attend graduate school at the University of Chicago. I had the opportunity to study under Milton Friedman, George Shultz, Gene Fama (Random Walk theory). In March, 1967, I flew to London, England where I proposed marriage to the Love of my Life - Cynthia Elizabeth - we were married in Canada on July 3, 1967. Then, with a MBA from the University of Chicago, I came back to La Salle to work at M & H Zinc Company. Our son Michael arrived in June of 1968. To describe working for family businesses requires one to write a book! One of the more interesting projects was the design and installation of a new continuous casting machine coupled with a four high Mesta rolling mill. This process has proven to be the most efficient method to produce non-ferrous metals in sheet and wire form. The zinc industry was greatly challenged in the 1970's. Eighty per cent of the zinc producers closed at that time. M & H was no exception.

In the late 1970's, I became interested in the development of our local YMCA. As President, with a highly dedicated group of Directors, we were able to acquire 22 acres of land right in the middle of LaSalle-Peru. There we built a new YMCA facility with gym, handball courts, weight room and recreation area. It has been very rewarding to watch the Y grow to over 7,000 members with the Miller/Link Aquatic Facilities.

Our daughter, Amelia, arrived in August, 1979. On the same day, Cynthia and I started LaSalle Rolling Mills and Zinco. Zinco got going first by producing zinc wire used mainly for corrosion protection of steel structures (bridges), electronic applications (capacitors) and fine wire (abrasives). Working with Shell Oil, ILZRO and Rice University, we developed an application for protecting deep sea off shore oil well installations. In 1981, LaSalle Rolling Mills was awarded a contract to supply 5 billion penny blanks for the U.S. Mints at West Point, San Fransisco, Philedeliphia and Denver. Reach in your pocket and if you have a penny dated between 1982 and 1998, it could well have come from LaSalle. Working as a Prime Contractor for the U.S. Government, Treasury Department was a distinct privilege. We also produced coin blanks for Canada and many off shore Countries. We especially remember attending the International Mint Director Conferences which were held in London, Helsinki, Warsaw, Madrid, Philadelphia/Washington and South Africa. In 1998, we received an unexpected and favorable offer to sell Zinco which we accepted. Due to the loss of the Mint contract, LaSalle Rolling Mills was shut down in 2000.

We now are operating a logistics facility offering warehousing and transportation and South Bluff Golf Course.

Best wishes and regards, Fred.

VIEW ALL BIOGRAPHIES