Name Austin Cofrin | ||
Austin Ellsworth Cofrin (October 10, 1883 – May 27, 1980) was an American industrialist that founded the Fort Howard Paper Company in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
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Life
Cofrin was born in Bradford, New Hampshire, in 1883, to Paige Cofrin and Alfaretta Ward Cofrin. At age 13, Cofrin worked his family's farm after his father's death where he cultivated a strong work ethic that influenced a prosperous career. By age 16 Cofrin worked away from home and gained employment at a paper mill as a coating machine helper. After working a few years at various paper mills on the East Coast, Cofrin moved to Green Bay. His first job in Green Bay was at the Northern Paper Mill, where he worked as a supervisor. After working at the Northern Paper Mill, Cofrin and a few other employees of the started their own business. The mill was a small paper company that was known as the Fort Howard Corporation. In 1924 he was granted a patent for making crepe paper. Cofrin was president of the Fort Howard Corporation until his retirement in 1960, when his son John P. Cofrin took over the position. Cofrin died in 1980 at the age of 96.
Fort Howard Corporation
The opening of the Fort Howard Corporation in 1919 on the Fox River (Wisconsin) paved the way for others in northeastern Wisconsin. The location of the paper mill was close to the fruitful timber industry and other natural resources in the region. Green Bay soon became a hub in the paper industry. Cofrin's hard work and resourcefulness was instrumental in the success of the Fort Howard Paper Company. His dedication to innovation helped lay the foundation for the paper industry as it is known today. Cofrin devoted much of his time to creating cutting-edge ideas that would forever change the way the paper industry did business. Fort Howard was the first paper mill to run nearly self-sufficiently. The mill housed a machine shop to build and service the paper converting equipment, which ensured speed and accuracy while cutting costs. Fort Howard produced many of their own chemicals used in the paper making process, as well as generating their own power to operate the mill, and maintained their own landfills for waste.
Cofrin was an early proponent of recycling waste paper to create a new type of usable paper. His vision for recycling continues to influence how paper and other raw materials like pulp and ground wood are recycled and reused today. Cofrin's work and early visions of environmentalism earned Fort Howard the first corporate award for national recycling in 1991 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Legacy
Cofrin was viewed as a hardworking boss, who was loved by his employees. He was known for working shoulder to shoulder with employees to fix problems while keeping the mill running and productive. His legacy will forever live on through his contributions to the paper industry, as well as the many communities that were impacted by the Cofrin family's numerous philanthropic gifts to higher education and business. The Austin E. Cofrin School of Business at University of Wisconsin–Green Bay was named in 2010 after his son, David Cofrin, donated a $5.5 million gift to the university.
The Cofrin Family Legacy
The Cofrin family continues to donate through the 1883 and 1923 Funds. The funds were named for the birth years of Austin E. Cofrin and David Cofrin. The funds benefit communities that played an important role in the Cofrins' lives: Green Bay, Wisconsin, where Austin E. Cofrin founded the Fort Howard Paper Co., and Gainesville, Florida, where David Cofrin and his wife Mary Ann lived and worked after his retirement from the Air Force. Some beneficiaries of the funds include the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, the Weidner Center of the Performing Arts, the Harn Museum of Art, the University of Florida's teaching hospital, and the Florida Museum of Natural History.