Henry E. Griffith ’37

Plastic-packaging expert and ardent Princetonian Hank Griffith died on Sept. 26, 1989.

At Princeton, Hank majored in chemical engineering and also found time for the Triangle Club, Theatre Intime, the Motion Picture Committee (chairman), the Engineering Society (president), and Charter Club. After graduation, he went to work for Montsanto in England, then shifted to St. Louis. Aside from 18 months' service in the Navy, in which he became a lieutenant (j.g.), Hank was with the Plax Corp. from 1941 to 1949 as V.P. for marketing. When American Can acquired Bradley Container ("Mr. Squeeze-Bottle Himself'), a company he had founded, Hank became V.P. of the tube division of American Can. In 1958, he founded Plastic Tube and Bottle, Inc. When it became part of Dart Industries, Hank became V.P. for research. He "retired" in 1975 and formed Plastic Packaging Associates, engineering consultants.

In 1960, he survived an American Airlines flip-flop at LaGuardia, and in 1980, he survived a 20-foot fall from a tree. Hank was for many years a trustee of Al-Anon Family Group and a lay minister at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Bedford, N.Y.

To his four daughters, Christine, Constance, Suzanne, and Pamela, stepdaughter Julie, and 12 grandchildren, we send our heartfelt condolences.

The Class of 1937