Alumni Spotlight

STANLEY PUSKARZ

Stan Puskarz recounts a time he was in the office of Dr. Ivan Planck, the head of the mechanical engineering program, at a time when Indiana Tech was known as Indiana Technical College.

was 1958, and Stan, a Bristol, Connecticut native, had recently gotten married to Shirley Sue Roberts, a local girl he met during his time in Fort Wayne. And, as Stan puts it, “Dr. Planck was trying to keep me here in spite of me trying to flunk out.” IT

Then-president Archie T. Keene joined in on the meeting and added his two cents. “President Keene told me, ‘Stan, I can see why you want to spend all your time at home—you’ve got yourself a real pretty bride. But, we’ve got to get you back on track,’ ” Stan said.

And get back on track is most certainly what Stan did. He graduated the following year with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and began a remarkable career that has seen him earn leadership roles at companies all over the United States and allowed him to travel the world.

His accomplishments include being on the teams that invented the pop-top lid for beverage cans and the screw-off lid for beverage bottles. Throughout his career, Stan acquired patents on shrink wrap machines, capping machines, filling

40 Fall 2019 machines and gear drives. As a result, his teams were always sought after for being on the leading edge of canning, filling and packaging technology. In fact, his expertise was tapped on a consultancy level by some of the nation’s top breweries.

Stan’s final career move came in 1989 when he became part owner and vice president of engineering at Fowler Products in Athens, Georgia. Fowler is known as one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-performance capping machinery. While there, Stan earned the 1995 Engineer of the Year in Private Practice Award from the Georgia Society of Professional Engineers. He retired from Fowler Products in 2001.

In 2002, the Stanley and Shirley Puskarz Scholarship was established at Indiana Tech for freshmen students pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering. Recently, Stan was back on campus for Homecoming 2019 weekend. For the spry 82-year-old retiree, it’s always good to get back to Fort Wayne.

have ever imagined. There were some really top-notch people here,” Stan said. “My very first job was with Ideal Electric and Manufacturing Company of Mansfield, Ohio. A guy from Ideal came to Indiana Tech looking for engineers. I interviewed with him and it all fell into place and it was because of what I learned here at Indiana Tech.”

Stan and Shirley celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary on May 24, 2019. They have two daughters and homes in Georgia, Florida and North Carolina.