CENTERVILLE, Ohio—Longtime industry veteran Paul Standley died Aug. 2 in Centerville at the age of 75.
He was involved in the rubber industry for more than four decades, starting with his 1970 graduation with a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Kent State University.
He took a job right out of college with General Tire, where he worked four years as a tire development compounder. He developed more than 8,000 rubber compounds during his career, including one he formulated that was the sidewall compound for the first radial tire approved for use on U.S. automobiles. Ford Motor Co. implemented this development.
In 1974, Standley began a 22-year career with Dayco Products, starting as a research chemist. His Dayco tenure included time as manager of technical services, manager of the advanced technologies group, business manager of automotive accessories, vice president of research and development, and finally as vice president of advanced technologies and practices.
After leaving Dayco, Standley became president and general manager of Zephyr Associates Ltd. in Dayton, Ohio, where he worked as a technical and management consultant. In this position, he performed a wide variety of projects from material and product development, to regeneration and reuse of scrap material, cycle time reductions, performance measurement systems and providing expert witness testimony.
At Zephyr, his client list included such firms as the ITT Engineered Valve Division of ITT Industries Inc., Goodyear, Finite Fiber L.L.C., Dayco, Gates Rubber, Akron Rubber Development Laboratory Inc., Robert Eller Associates Inc., Delta Environmental Inc., Lonza Biologics Inc., Eli Lilly & Co.., Landstar Inc., Borg-Warner Inc. and Akron Consulting Inc.
Standley served as chairman of the ACS Rubber Division's Rubber Recycling Topical Group from 1994-2003. He also was heavily involved in the development of engineered fiber materials technology as performance additives in rubber and plastics compounds.
During his career, Standley was awarded 19 U.S. and foreign patents, the last two of those in 2016 and 2018 for his work on Varamix, an aramid blend developed in conjunction with Finite Fiber.