Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Obituary
He failed chemistry in school, then excelled in it
By CRAIG BASSE
Published August 19, 2005
MADEIRA BEACH - Flunking high school chemistry gave Bob Spiers a goal for life.
"That chemistry failure made me mad," the son of a Philadelphia pharmacist told a reporter in 1948. "I made up my mind I was going to become a chemist or know the reason why."
He went on to get a bachelor of science degree - in chemistry - from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science. His alma mater later bestowed a doctorate upon him.
And he made chemistry the basis for his occupation.
A retired industrialist and inventor, Robert D. "Bob" Spiers died Tuesday (Aug. 16, 2005) at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg. He was 90.
In World War II, he worked for the Navy, developing insecticides. He moved to this area in 1945 and launched Dianol Inc., which made an insecticide and barnacle fighter for the shipping industry.
The company was folded into the Mills-Pearson Corp. in 1957 with Mr. Spiers, who invented the insecticide, remaining with the company before joining Futuronics Co. as general manager.
He organized and presided over General Components, which manufactured printed circuit boards for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Defense Department, in 1961. The Small Business Administration named him manufacturer of the year in the southeast United States in 1973. He retired in 1978.
Active in the community, he received awards from former President Gerald Ford and former Gov. Claude Kirk. Former Sheriff Don Genung named him an honorary deputy. The United Fund honored him in 1966.
He was president of Robert D. Spires Laboratories of St. Petersburg, the Inter-American Trade & Industrial Council of St. Petersburg and Trident Corp.
Since 1932 he was an amateur radio operator, W4JOU, and was a past president of the St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club.
Survivors include his wife of 18 years, L.V.S. Spiers; two stepsons, Braxton Schuffert, Maui, Hawaii, and Ken Schuffert, St. Petersburg; two stepgrandchildren, Kenneth Robert Schuffert and Tamra Mabe; and three stepgreat-grandchildren.
Memorial Park Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. A graveside service will be at 11 a.m. today at Memorial Park Cemetery, 4900 49th St. N, St. Petersburg.
Information from Times files was used in this obituary.
[Last modified August 19, 2005, 01:04:19]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
