Theodore S. Stoughton
Connecticut Plastics Council
Inducted 2002
Theodore S. Stoughton (1927 – 2000) was the founder and managing director of the Connecticut Plastics Council in Waterbury, CT. Throughout his career, he advocated for technical plastics education at all levels. He chaired the Industrial Technology Advisory Council at Central Connecticut University, which developed an undergraduate plastics program. He also helped create a plastics laboratory at Waterbury’s Emmett O’Brien Regional Vocational-Technical School. He was an industry advisory board member for the Plastics Engineering Program at the University of Lowell (now the University of Massachusetts Lowell).
During his professional career, he owned or worked for several CT-based plastics companies, including the Magrey Manufacturing Co. in Moosup, Curtis Plastics Co. in Cheshire, and Bipel International Inc. of Trumbull. He was also the chairman of the first three statewide plastics expositions in Connecticut, known as Plast-Conn.
Stoughton was active for over 40 years in the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) and served as SPE president in 1973. He was president of SPE’s Connecticut section for two terms, a director of SPE’s Plastics Education Foundation from 1974 to 1982, and Foundation chairman from 1995 to 1997. He was also a lifelong supporter of the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI, now PLASTICS). He was the driving force in developing SPI’s first Plastic Industry Symposium and Exhibition at the legislative office building in Hartford, Connecticut.
Areas of Expertise:
Plastic management