Oster's family made Osterizer blender
Hoodoo
After selling successful company to Sunbeam, he co-founded
Deltrol Corp.
By Eldon Knoche of the Journal Sentinel staff
John Oster Jr., whose family manufactured the Osterizer blender, died
in Lake Wales, Fla., Sunday following a stroke. He was 85.
Oster was chairman of Deltrol Corp. at his death.
Deltrol, which manufactures electro-mechanical products in Milwaukee
and general purpose valves in Bellwood, Ill., was established by the
Oster family in 1963 after Sunbeam Corp. bought the John Oster
Manufacturing Co.
Oster was born April 23, 1914, in Racine to Katharina and John Oster
Sr., who were immigrants from Austria-Hungary.
The senior Oster founded his company in Racine in 1924 with the
manufacture of tools and then began making haircutting clippers.
Next came electrical clippers and, after World War II, the firm began
producing kitchen appliances.
The Osters acquired the patent to a new blender, called it the
Osterizer and made it into one of America's consumer sales successes.
John Jr. graduated from Washington Park High School in 1932 and joined
the company four years later after earning a bachelor's degree in
electrical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.
Oster Manufacturing moved its appliance division to Glendale in 1953,
the same year John Jr. took over as president from his father.
Oster's avionics division remained in Racine.
Sunbeam purchased the firm in 1960, and John Jr. remained with Sunbeam
for three years before leaving.
In 1963 John Jr. co-founded Deltrol with his father; his brother,
Robert; and his son, John III.
Deltrol began in Cedarburg and relocated three or four years later to
2740 S. 20th St. in Milwaukee, where it remains.
John Sr. died in 1963.
John Jr. was a financial contributor to the Republican Party and
adviser to GOP candidates for governor. He also bred Brown Swiss
cattle in Walworth County.
He and his wife, Eleanor, lived in Fox Point before moving to Florida
in 1976, and he continued to be active in Deltrol.
He is survived by his wife, of Lake Wales; two children, John III of
Mequon and Penelope Ferrer of New York City; and his brother, Robert,
of the Town of East Troy.
A private memorial service will be held next year.
Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Dec. 18, 1999.
© Copyright 1999, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
From the webpage at:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/obits/dec99/oster18121799a.asp
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