T. Sendzimir Inc. Mourns Loss of Chairman
09/02/2008 - Industry icon Michael Sendzimir, son of the late Dr. Tadeusz Sendzimir, died Sunday, August 31, 2008, at Waterbury Hospital.
Industry icon Michael Sendzimir, 83, died Sunday, August 31, 2008, at Waterbury Hospital.
The son of the late Dr. Tadeusz Sendzimir, Michael Sendzimir was a renowned authority on multi-roll rolling mills for flat products, and was one of the principals in the conception, development, adaptation, and commercialization of the Sendzimir cold strip mill. Traveling more than 8 million miles over six continents, he promoted “Sendzimir” ideas through the presentation of technical papers in Australia, Europe, South America, India, South Africa, Canada, and the U.S.A. at the Metals Institute, American Bar Mill Association, and the former AISE and ISS.
As early as the 1960s, Michael Sendzimir proposed the use of “twin” mills in a reversing mode (in Japan) and worked with Nisshin Steel to specify, engineer, and install the first ZR-type six-stand tandem mill in the Shunan works. He also conceived the principle of the Z-high mill and its application in continuous lines as either a new or a retrofit mill.
In addition to his involvement with the development and commercialization of the Sendzimir planetary hot strip mills, Michael Sendzimir also liaised with the Krupp organization on the Platzer planetary mills, as well as on Daido’s development of the semi-planetary concept.
Michael Sendzimir worked with his father on the development of variants of the planetary mill and their installation in tandem with the continuous casting of slabs as well as with production of stainless, titanium, and high-carbon “clad steel”. He also was involved with the “pendulum” mill and development of the one-half rocker mill. He completed the only double rocker mill for rolling copper and nonferrous alloys.
In addition to receiving several patents on “Sendzimir” cold mills, Michael Sendzimir also invented and patented the Turret Mill. He developed the Sendzimir skinpass mill with small (four-inch diameter) work rolls adopted for ultra-fast change mainly during his stays in France. He delivered a mill to roll airfoil down to 0.007 inches, and worked on the concept of the small work roll “Vibratory” mill for extra-high reduction. He also was involved in strip casting and downstream rolling, as well as with “multi-thickness” product from a rolling mill.
Michael Sendzimir served as President of T. Sendzimir, Inc., for over four decades, eventually assuming the additional duties of Chairman and CEO. He began working with his father in 1948, and soon after Poland ousted communism and elected the Solidarity government, cut the ribbon that symbolized the renaming of Huta im. Lenina, Poland’s largest steelworks, as Huta im. T. Sendzimir (HTS), with Dr. T. Sendzimir as patron.
Michael Sendzimir was awarded the Gold Order of Merit of the Polish Republic in June 1992 by Poland’s President Lech Walesa. In 1999, he was elected Chairman of its Executive Committee of the Polish Organization of Inventors (SPWIR).
Born in Shanghai, China, in 1924, Dr. Sendzimir received his early schooling in Poland and continued his education at La Chataigneraie in Switzerland. He graduated in 1943 from the Manlius School, near Syracuse, N.Y., after which he served three years in the Army of the United States, rising to the rank of Second Lieutenant. In 1951, he graduated from Columbia School of Engineering in New York with a BS degree in Industrial Engineering. In 1986, he received his Honorary PhD in Science, and in 1993 in Law.
A funeral service is to be held on Saturday morning, September 6, at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Conn. In lieu of flowers, the public is asked to contribute to the Sendzimir fund at Waterbury Hospital.
