PERSONNEL: Out to Pasture

For more than half a century, Tom Mercer Girdler was a man of steel. He was especially proud of the fact that he came from a family that loved work. "Work has been the significant thing in our lives," he said. "We have received from it wonderful excitement and satisfaction." Last week, long since at the top of the industry, Tom Girdler, 79, finally gave up his excitement and satisfaction, and retired.

Son of an Indiana farmer, young Girdler went to Lehigh ('01), got his first steel job offer (as a foreman in the Pittsburgh Oliver Iron & Steel Co. at...

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