John Von Holdt
Plas-Tol Co.
Inducted 1999
John von Holdt (1919 – 1999) was born in Chicago. He attended Senn High School, where he became the “All-Around Gymnastics City Champion.” After graduation, in 1937, he began his lifelong career in the Tool and Die and Mold-Making industry by apprenticing in various Chicago area machine and tool shops. He also completed the Plastics Engineering Program at Northwestern University Technological Institute. In September 1944, he was inducted into the United States Army and was assigned to the Pacific Theater during World War II. He served as a Lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers in the Philippine Islands and Korea.
In 1950, he founded Plas-Tol Co. of Niles, Illinois, and built it into one of the finest specialty mold-making companies in the U.S., exporting molds to Europe, North and South America, and the Far East.
He was recognized as one of the most inventive and creative mold makers, receiving over 55 United States patents and hundreds of corresponding foreign patents in mold and plastic product design. From 1969 to 1971, he served as National Chairman of the Mold-Maker’s Division of the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI – now PLASTICS). He was a much sought-after keynote speaker at many of the technical and business conferences in the plastics industry. Mr. Von Holdt was the only three-time winner of the prestigious “Bachner Award” for plastic product design. In 1990, he was presented with the Society of Plastics Engineers “Mold Maker of the Year Award.” The following year, he received the mold-making “Industry Achievement Award,” presented to him at the tri-annual banquet by The Plastics Academy.