Marion A. Trozzolo
Encyclopedia
Marion A. Trozzolo (1925 – June 30, 1992) was a pioneer, visionary, innovator, inventor, entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

, and professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 of business at Rockhurst University
Rockhurst University
Rockhurst University is a private, coeducational Jesuit university located in Kansas City, Missouri, founded in 1910 as Rockhurst College. The school adheres to the motto etched into the stone of the campus bell tower: "Learning, Leadership, and Service in the Jesuit Tradition." It is one of 28...

 in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

. He is called the "inventor of the Teflon coated frying pan" and was the developer of the Kansas City entertainment district River Quay.

Early life and education

Trozzolo was born in Castrolibero
Castrolibero
Castrolibero is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy.-Notes and references:...

 Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, and was one of three brothers. His family immigrated to Chicago, Illinois in 1927 for a better life for their children. A veteran of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Trozzolo earned a Silver Star
Bronze medal
A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...

 and Purple Heart
Purple Heart
The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...

 for his service. After the war, he attended the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

 where he received a bachelor's degree in Philosophy and a Master's degree in Business Administration.

Career

Trozzolo moved to Kansas City, Missouri in 1951 to pursue a career as a professor of business administration and economics at Rockhurst University.

The Happy Pan

In 1957 he founded Laboratory Plasticware Fabricators producing plastic-coated scientific utensils, including a Teflon
Polytetrafluoroethylene
Polytetrafluoroethylene is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene that finds numerous applications. PTFE is most well known by the DuPont brand name Teflon....

-coated magnetic stirring rod. He eventually experimented with coating pans and E. I. duPont deNemours & Company executives endorsed the plan.

In 1961 he unveiled the "Happy Pan", a Teflon coated frying pan (Paul Donze was the one who sprayed the very first "Happy Pan" and was the first American citizen to spray Teflon on a pan ever) (although the frying pans had been selling in France since 1954)

Marion Trozzolo, whose manufacture of Teflon-coated frying pans helped change the way America cooks. He was 66 years old when he passed and lived in Kansas City.

Mr. Trozzolo suffered from leukemia for several years, his family said.

Through a company that Mr. Trozzolo founded in 1957, Laboratory Plasticware Fabricators, he was the first producer in the United States of the Teflon-coated pan, which he called the "happy pan" because it is easy to clean. He sold the company in 1972.

Mr. Trozzolo was a graduate of the University of Chicago. He came to the United States from Italy with his parents when he was a boy.

One of the original Happy Pans is now at the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

.

During the Presidency of Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

 he marketed Teflon coat mementos in honor of the "Teflon president." He was also to donate a Teflon coating for the fence around the Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...

 home in Independence, Missouri
Independence, Missouri
Independence is the fourth largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri, and is contained within the counties of Jackson and Clay. It is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area...

.

River Quay

The name “Quay” means a landing place by a body of water, and the pronunciation is “key”. The name was selected because the area’s northern boundary is the Missouri River and the district is the site of Westport Landing, a stopping place for explorers and settlers of the West. This is where Kansas City began.

As early as 1958, Trozzolo discovered the charm of the old buildings surrounding the city market. Over the years he acquired over 30 buildings. By 1971, a real community of small shops was forming and on June 30, 1972 River Quay was officially born. In two years it grew to include over 80 shops and restaurants which attracted thousands of people each year. The entertainment district was similar to Ghirardelli Square
Ghirardelli Square
Ghirardelli Square is a landmark with shops and restaurants in the Fisherman's Wharf area of San Francisco, California, USA. A portion of the area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Pioneer Woolen Mills and D. Ghirardelli Company....

 in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

 or Old Town, Chicago
Old Town, Chicago
Old Town is a neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, bounded by the Ogden Ave. right-of-way on the northwest, Larrabee Street on the west, Clybourn Avenue on the southwest and Division Street on the south and Clark Street on the east and northeast. It spans across eastern parts of the community areas...

. Its initial slogan was "The Old New Town." In 1973, he said, “We have a real feeling of community. People are happy here. Even the shoppers and business people who come just for lunch are smiling and more relaxed.” Perhaps that is why River Quay’s slogan became “A community in downtown Kansas City, rich in leisure, arts, craftsmanship and 19th century flavor.”

Trozzolo was especially creative in his marketing campaign of "The River Quay". He imported three red double-decker buses from Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 and began to run bus routes all over town. Promoting and encouraging people to "Come see... The River Quay" (the official slogan) with bill boards and painted signs.

During 1981 Trozzolo joined with Kansas City Star newspaper columnist Frederick Louis Richardson in developing a motion picture project based upon the mafia incursion into the River Quay. The screenplay by Richardson entitled "Battle for the River Quay" was promoted by the Rivery Quay Company, a corporation in which the writer and Trozzolo were partnered. Although the chairman of Paramount Pictures, Barry Diller had expressed an interest in reviewing the script, Trozzolo failed to comply and the project stalled before being abandoned.

Marriage and children

He was married to his wife Phyllis for 35 years. They had seven children, Alexandra, Angela, Andrea, Anita, Peter, Jon and Alisa.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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