Estabrook. F. Reed, 1919-2006

F. Reed Estabrook (1919-2006) was an American businessman in the plastics field.

Born February 7, 1919, he grew up in Newton or Dedham, Massachusetts. He attended Avon Old Farms School in Connecticut for two years (class of 1936) and Harvard University for one year (class of 1940). From 1943 to 1945, he was a lieutenant in the Air Force during World War II. Gorham Co., in Providence, Rhode Island employed him as a sales engineer in their Plastics Division from 1937 until 1940. From 1940 to 1955, he worked at the Northern Industrial Chemical Co., a custom molding company in South Boston, where he became the General Manager in 1954. While at Northern, Estabrook was instrumental in the design and molding of phenolic field telephone handsets and electrical components for the Navy in World War II, and the post-war development of Northern's line of molded melamine dinnerware.

Estabrook founded Brook Molding Corporation (c.1957-1978) and its subsidiary, Precision Molded Gearing in Norwood, Mass. (1972-1976?) which pioneered injection molded nylon gears. He sold Brook Molding in 1978 and established The TAIM Co., a consulting firm to assist clients in machinery, materials, molding methods, practical part design, and building special automated molding equipment. Estabrook was very involved in the plastics industry through memberships and activities. He was president of AIM, 1976, and a member of AGMA (American Gears Manufacturers Association) and ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) and active in the Plastics Pioneers Association. Estabrook was inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame in 1973. Estabrook also volunteered time to the formation and governance as a Board member of the National Plastics Center & Museum in Leominster, Massachusetts. He died in 2006.

From the guide to the F. Reed Estabrook Papers, 1943-1998, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)