Founder of EAF Supplier EMPCO Ltd. Dies at 85
04/26/2016 - Edgar R. Wunsche, an engineer who founded Ontario-based EMPCO Ltd. and an AIST Life Member, died Friday, 22 April 2016, at Toronto General Hospital in Canada. He was 85.
Born 1931 in eastern Europe, Wunsche was an electrical engineer who had studied in Russia and began his steelmaking career at an electric arc furnace there. He eventually emigrated to Canada and went to work at Lake Ontario Steel's steelmaking department.
But Wunsche had ideas of his own that he wanted to explore and market, so he left and formed Engineered Metal Products Co., or EMPCO, in 1970, said friend and colleague Ted Leczo, chief commercial officer for Lumar Metals North America.
EMPCO makes a variety of products for electric arc furnaces. Leczo said Wunsche was a proficient developer whose designs were driven by logic.
"Designers had trouble keeping up with him," he said.
Leczo also said that Wunsche's products were the basis for many others in the industry.
"Edgar was a leader, and others followed him," Leczo said. "He was ahead of his time. The steel industry will catch up to him one day."
Wunsche held several patents and was fluent in multiple languages, including Czech, Serbian, Russian and German.
He joined a predecessor organization of AIST in 1970 and had served on the electric steelmaking technology committee.
In 2007, the Electric Metal Makers Guild presented him with its Billy Wallis Award in recognition of his contributions to electric steelmaking. In naming him a recipient, the organization cited Wunsche's "innovative new processes and designs that focused on energy efficiency, ecological friendliness and improvements in safety and working conditions."
Wunsche is survived by children Xenie Kacerova (Bohuslav), Alan (Laura) and Robert (Donna); eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
A funeral service will be held 7 p.m. Tuesday, 26 April, at Oshawa Funeral Home, 847 King St. West, Oshawa, Ont., Canada.
His obituary and an online guestbook can be viewed here.
But Wunsche had ideas of his own that he wanted to explore and market, so he left and formed Engineered Metal Products Co., or EMPCO, in 1970, said friend and colleague Ted Leczo, chief commercial officer for Lumar Metals North America.
EMPCO makes a variety of products for electric arc furnaces. Leczo said Wunsche was a proficient developer whose designs were driven by logic.
"Designers had trouble keeping up with him," he said.
Leczo also said that Wunsche's products were the basis for many others in the industry.
"Edgar was a leader, and others followed him," Leczo said. "He was ahead of his time. The steel industry will catch up to him one day."
Wunsche held several patents and was fluent in multiple languages, including Czech, Serbian, Russian and German.
He joined a predecessor organization of AIST in 1970 and had served on the electric steelmaking technology committee.
In 2007, the Electric Metal Makers Guild presented him with its Billy Wallis Award in recognition of his contributions to electric steelmaking. In naming him a recipient, the organization cited Wunsche's "innovative new processes and designs that focused on energy efficiency, ecological friendliness and improvements in safety and working conditions."
Wunsche is survived by children Xenie Kacerova (Bohuslav), Alan (Laura) and Robert (Donna); eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
A funeral service will be held 7 p.m. Tuesday, 26 April, at Oshawa Funeral Home, 847 King St. West, Oshawa, Ont., Canada.
His obituary and an online guestbook can be viewed here.
