Stanley Gault

Stanley Carleton Gault (January 6, 1926 – June 29, 2016) was an American businessman. He was born in Wooster, Ohio to Clyde and Asenath Gault and spent 31 years with General Electric before being named Chairman of the Board and CEO of Rubbermaid from 1981 to 91. He became CEO and Chairman of The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company from 1991-1996. Since 1985, he has been a director at Avon Products, Inc. A graduate of the College of Wooster, remains as Chairman Emeritus of the Board.

Gault shot to fame in the 1980s, taking the helm of the Rubbermaid company his father helped to found. Gault was instrumental in reorganizing and revitalizing Rubbermaid into a streamlined and efficient multinational corporation. He embarked on a dual plan of divestiture and strategic investment that generated a 4-fold increase in revenues and a 6-fold increase in profitability. While he stripped weak product lines and slashed excess cost, he invested in new product development. At one point, Rubbermaid turned out more than one product a day.

He was heralded as a business genius in the 1980s for his transformation of Rubbermaid. However, his leadership has since been criticized because Gault's successor was less than adequate and Rubbermaid ended up being bought in 1999 by a competitor, Newell. In 1994 he was inducted into Junior Achievement's U.S. Business Hall of Fame.

Since his retirement, Gault had devoted himself to philanthropic causes, and he was a major donor to The College of Wooster (where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in geology in 1948) and many non-profit agencies in the Wooster, Ohio area. Gault died on June 29, 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio, after a brief illness.