Gordon A. Cain
The information listed below is current as of the date the transcript was finalized.
Interview Details
Interview Sessions
Abstract of Interview
Gordon A. Cain begins the interview by discussing his early influences from the chemical and engineering disciplines. He next recounts his undergraduate education at Louisiana State University during the Great Depression. He describes his first jobs in the chemical industry and his first patents. He enlisted during World War II as a captain and served in the Pacific with an Army heavy mortar company. After the war he worked in scientific intelligence in Germany. Returning to the United States, Cain shifted the direction of his career away from chemical engineering and into management, consulting and ownership of various chemical and high technology concerns. Cain then discusses his experiences as head of Vista, Cain Chemical and the Sterling Group and the impact of venture capital and leveraged buyouts on his career and on the chemical industry. He describes his philosophy and standards for running these large companies, including employee ownership and the Deming system. Cain concludes the interview with a discussion of his family and hobbies and an analysis of the changing business climate.
Education
| Year | Institution | Degree | Discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1933 | Louisiana State University | BS | Chemical Engineering |
Professional Experience
Louisiana Power and Light Company
Freeport Sulphur Company
Merck & Company Inc.
US Army
Standard Perlite Company
Westvaco Mineral Products Division
Petro-Tex Chemical Corporation
Continental Oil Company
Atec, Inc.
PASA Petroquimica Argentina
Computer Application Technology
Iotron Group
Alaska Interstate Co.
Vista Chemical Company
The Sterling Group
Sterling Chemicals
Cain Chemical, Inc.
Atlantic Coast Airlines, Inc.
Honors
| Year(s) | Award |
|---|---|
| 1988 | Winthrop-Sears Medal, Chemical Industry Association |
| 1990 | John Fritz Medal, United Engineering Trustees, Inc. |
Table of Contents
Father, a chemist, influences choice of career. Education of parents and grandparents influences choice of Louisiana State University for undergraduate education. Louisiana during the Great Depression.
Few career options for graduates in chemical engineering. Sugar industry provides first exposure to chemical processes. Chemical engineering curriculum and faculty.
Employed by Louisiana Power and Light Company after graduation. Hired by Freeport Sulfur to work in operations and travels to Cuba. Works for Merck and Co. building sulfa drug and nicotinic acid plants. First patents.
Called as a reserve captain after participating in the Chemical Warfare Service in the Reserve Officer Training Corps during college. Becomes commanding officer of an Army heavy mortar company. Transferred to the Pacific and sees active duty. After returning to New York, travels to Germany on a Combined Intelligence Objectives Subcommittee mission to study acetylene from methane and sulfur processes. Joins a quatrepartite team to implement the provisions of the Potsdam agreement.
Perlite project is first management and business ownership experience. Returns to Freeport Sulfur as a consultant. Works for FMC. Successfully bids on a rubber plant newly privatized by the Synthetic Rubber Plant Commission and inaugurates Petro-Tex just as a boom in rubber production starts. Marries at age forty-three. Visits India twice as a butadiene expert for Goodyear.
Works for six years as head of five high-technology businesses. Salvages the failing Petro-Tex by lowering production in a buyer's market. Bids for Alaskan crude oil business for Alaska Interstate. Buys chemical business from DuPont and goes through open heart surgery while finalizing the deal.
Purchase of Vista is the first leveraged buyout in the chemical industry. Standards for LBO operations. Buys ethylene plant in Corpus Christi and joins it with six other ethylene-related plants into Cain Chemical just as the ethylene business enters a boom. Sells Cain Chemical in less than a year for $1.2 billion.
Value of employee ownership. Investment in commodity producing plants. Cutting upper level management and keeping a small sales force. Use of the Deming system to cut overhead and increase communication within management.
Buys polyester fiber business from Celanese. Founds the Sterling Group. Family and hobbies. Changes in the business climate from the 1980s to the 1990s.
About the Interviewer
James J. Bohning was professor emeritus of chemistry at Wilkes University, where he had been a faculty member from 1959 to 1990. He served there as chemistry department chair from 1970 to 1986 and environmental science department chair from 1987 to 1990. Bohning was chair of the American Chemical Society’s Division of the History of Chemistry in 1986; he received the division’s Outstanding Paper Award in 1989 and presented more than forty papers at national meetings of the society. Bohning was on the advisory committee of the society’s National Historic Chemical Landmarks Program from its inception in 1992 through 2001 and is currently a consultant to the committee. He developed the oral history program of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, and he was CHF’s director of oral history from 1990 to 1995. From 1995 to 1998, Bohning was a science writer for the News Service group of the American Chemical Society. In May 2005, he received the Joseph Priestley Service Award from the Susquehanna Valley Section of the American Chemical Society. Bohning passed away in September 2011.