G. H. Teeter, Ex-Beckman Leader, Dies

G. Howard Teeter, 72, a former top executive with Beckman Industries Inc. who trained a cadre of young managers who have gone on to become corporate leaders, died Friday at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange from the effects of a stroke.

Dozens of people who had worked for him gathered two years ago to pay him tribute. Many of them had become top executives here and in Europe. The group’s sign said: “Teeter, Our Leader.”

Teeter, a Dallas native, valued failure as a way of learning, said his son, C. Bruce Teeter: “There is no such thing as failure, he would say; you merely miss your objective. He was convinced that someone who had never failed should not be given a position of responsibility. They didn’t understand yet that failure was a transient thing.”

A former lineman for the University of Oklahoma football team, Teeter made the walls vibrate as he shouted instructions to employees shortly after he joined Fullerton-based Beckman Laboratories in 1966, an associate recalled.

“There were two people in the world I never, ever wanted to submit an incompleted piece of staff work to,” said Stuart Davidson, who worked for Teeter for 17 years and who also served in the military under Gen. George S. Patton. “One was Gen. Patton and the other was Howard Teeter.”

When Teeter joined Beckman as executive vice president, the company was losing money on annual sales of about $40 million. He steered the firm from military products to medical products, and toward sales of $4 billion by the time it was sold in 1982 to SmithKline Corp.

He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Mary; his sister, Mildred Hoggard; a brother, Grover; four sons, Robert, Michael, Bruce and David, and six grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Fairhaven Memorial Chapel in Santa Ana. There will be a viewing that day from 12:30 to 1 p.m.