F. S. Upton, 95, Dies; Pioneer Industrialist
From Times Wire Services
ST. JOSEPH, Mich. —
Frederick Stanley Upton, co-founder of a small washing machine company that evolved into the Whirlpool Corp., has died at the age of 95.
Upton, who died Wednesday, came to St. Joseph to join his brother, Louis C. Upton, and two other men in founding the Upton Machine Co. in 1911.
The company was renamed the Nineteen Hundred Corp. after an expansion in 1929, and in 1955 merged with Seeger Refrigeration Co.
The merger helped make the company one of the country’s major manufacturers of home appliances. Upton retired as Whirlpool director in 1975.
Upton contributed to the arts, education and medicine and was considered the driving force behind the founding in 1950 of Mercy-Memorial Medical Center, where he died.
