Gerald Gidwitz
Encyclopedia
Gerald S. Gidwitz was a co-founder of Helene Curtis Industries.
. His father was a cotton farmer and general store owner in Mississippi
. When Gidwitz was 12 years old, his family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where his father started a business that made paper boxes.
in 1927, Gidwitz worked at National Minerals Company. Gidwitz's father had acquired the troubled beauty products company in settlement of a debt National Minerals owed the Gidwitz box company.
National Minerals' main product was a clay for beauty facials. Gidwitz helped refocus the company's product line toward beauty parlor supplies, including permanent wave solutions and hair dryers. In the late 1940s the company began marketing home beauty products, including shampoos and hair sprays. The company's first consumer product was a hair cream marketed under the Suave
label.
National Minerals was renamed Helene Curtis Industries in 1956, when the company went public. Gidwitz served as chairman of the company from 1952 to 1996, when it was bought by Unilever
.
Gidwitz also founded or acquired companies in other economic sectors. In the 1980s he launched a company providing building supplies, Continental Materials Corporation. He also bought two companies that manufactured farm equipment.
."
During the Cold War
, Gidwitz supported groups that assisted defectors from Soviet bloc
countries. In 1962 he launched a monthly "Cold War digest" that provided information on military, political and technological aspects of the Cold War.
Gidwitz served on the board of Roosevelt University
. Gidwitz funded literacy programs through Roosevelt University and worked with the National Planning Association, which creates programs to improve education and promote literacy. During the 1940s he set up after-hours classes for workers at Helene Curtis.
In 2002 Gidwitz gave a grant to National-Louis University
to create the Gidwitz Center for Urban Planning and Community Development.
He died on July 11, 2006 of congestive heart failure.
Early life
Gidwitz was born in Memphis, TennesseeMemphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
. His father was a cotton farmer and general store owner in Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
. When Gidwitz was 12 years old, his family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where his father started a business that made paper boxes.
Helene Curtis
After graduating from the University of ChicagoUniversity 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...
in 1927, Gidwitz worked at National Minerals Company. Gidwitz's father had acquired the troubled beauty products company in settlement of a debt National Minerals owed the Gidwitz box company.
National Minerals' main product was a clay for beauty facials. Gidwitz helped refocus the company's product line toward beauty parlor supplies, including permanent wave solutions and hair dryers. In the late 1940s the company began marketing home beauty products, including shampoos and hair sprays. The company's first consumer product was a hair cream marketed under the Suave
Suave
Suave is a brand name based in Chicago, IL used by the Unilever company in the United States, Argentina, Mexico and Canada. Targeting discount stores, the brand represents more than 100 products including shampoo, lotions, soaps and deodorant....
label.
National Minerals was renamed Helene Curtis Industries in 1956, when the company went public. Gidwitz served as chairman of the company from 1952 to 1996, when it was bought by Unilever
Unilever
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....
.
Gidwitz also founded or acquired companies in other economic sectors. In the 1980s he launched a company providing building supplies, Continental Materials Corporation. He also bought two companies that manufactured farm equipment.
Political life
In the 1950s Gidwitz founded the anti-communist Education for Survival Foundation, which had the aim of making "every school district in the nation aware of the grim fact that we are engaged in a battle of the classroom with RussiaSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
."
During the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, Gidwitz supported groups that assisted defectors from Soviet bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
countries. In 1962 he launched a monthly "Cold War digest" that provided information on military, political and technological aspects of the Cold War.
Gidwitz served on the board of Roosevelt University
Roosevelt University
Roosevelt University is a coeducational, private university with campuses in Chicago, Illinois and Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university is named in honor of both former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The university's curriculum is based on...
. Gidwitz funded literacy programs through Roosevelt University and worked with the National Planning Association, which creates programs to improve education and promote literacy. During the 1940s he set up after-hours classes for workers at Helene Curtis.
In 2002 Gidwitz gave a grant to National-Louis University
National-Louis University
National–Louis University is a private non-profit American university. NLU has campuses in and near Chicago, Illinois, as well as in Wisconsin, Florida, and Nowy Sącz, Poland. Many NLU courses and programs are also offered at-a-distance. The university practices multi-campus, at-a-distance, and...
to create the Gidwitz Center for Urban Planning and Community Development.
He died on July 11, 2006 of congestive heart failure.