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wbjournal.com | March 15, 2021 | Worcester Business Journal 5 B R I E FS Gordon Lankton dies, leaving an iconic legacy Gordon Lankton, founder of the Mu- seum of Russian Icons and the man who transformed Clinton manufacturer Ny- lon Products into a billion-dollar, employee-owned firm, died on March 7 at the age of 89. "Gordon was a natural-born lead- er," said the Mu- seum of Russian Icons' executive director, Kent dur Rus- sell, in a statement. "He was infectiously enthusiastic, a pragmatic visionary, and an inspiration to his community and to the over 20,000 employees of his plastics company Nypro, Inc." Born in Illinois in 1931, Lankton graduated from Cornell University with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1954. He served as part of U.S. Army Military Intelligence in Frankfurt, Ger- many from 1954 to 1956, aer which he embarked on a nine-month motorcycle trip spanning from Germany to Japan. He wrote about his travels in his book "e Long Way Home." When he returned to the U.S., Lankton joined DuPont in Delaware, later recruit- ed to be general manager of the plastics division at Stanley Tools in Connecticut. In 1962, at the age of 30, he placed an ad in the Wall Street Journal looking for a small, custom plastics injection molding company. is resulted in his connecting with and investing in Nylon Products in Clinton, which he would later go on to own and rename Nypro Inc., overseeing its growth into a billion-dollar company. Along the way, he married his wife Janet Kilby, who also attended Cornell. Under Lankton's ownership, Nypro expanded to include 24 companies across the U.S., as well as operations in Mexico, Ireland, France, Hungary, Russia, Den- mark, China,India, Singapore, ailand, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan. In 1998, Lankton converted Nypro into an employee-owned company, which those around him cast as emblematic of his belief in the value of the individual. Dozens of employees went on to become millionaires as a result of holding equity in the company. A Sound Tax Structure? We Help Anticipate The Curves. FletcherTilton.com WO RC E ST E R | F R A M I N G H A M | B OSTO N | C A P E CO D Tax planning. It's a building block of business strategy and the cornerstone for informed decision making. Our tax attorneys have highly specialized knowledge and employ sophisticated tools. They look beyond general tax planning concepts to implement complex goals for charitable giving, succession planning, and more. And a good plan makes a strong structure. BUSINESS FORMATIONS | BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS NONPROFIT & TAX-EXEMPT ENTITIES | INDIVIDUAL TAX PLANNING EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION | ESTATE & GIFT TAX PLANNING TAXPAYER RESOLUTION SERVICES Dennis Gorman, Esq., CPA, LLM 508.459.8037 Michael Duffy, Esq., CPA, LLM 508.459.8043 Continued on Page 6 Gordon Lankton T H E T I C K E R 25 cents Increase in the price per gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Massachusetts between Feb. 9 and March 9 Source: AAA Northeast 41% Source: Menkiti Group CEO Bo Menkiti Percent representing how much more affordable housing costs are in Worcester, compared to Boston Square feet of commercial and industrial development space in a 117-acre plot of land in Leicester whose best use has yet to be determined. 1.5 million Source: MassDevelopment Value of the Joanne Chouinard-Luth Recreation and Wellness Center at the College of the Holy Cross, which opened March 8 and replaces the Field House $33 million Source: College of the Holy Cross