Myron Petrakis was honored with the President of the United States Volunteer Service Award in 2016, and in 2017 he received the Hoffman Estates, II, Community Hero Award.
HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL, December 05, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Myron Petrakis with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Mr. Petrakis celebrates many years' experience his professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and he has accrued in his field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
As a child of the Great Depression, Mr. Petrakis saw many unemployed men. His cousin was an electrician and was the only one he knew that had a job. When Mr. Petrakis graduated from grammar school in 1937 he wanted to become an electrician and he attended Crane Technical High School in Chicago, IL. Once in high school, he was fascinated by the sciences and took college prep courses and pursued his technical education. He graduated from Crane Tech in 1940.
His first real job upon graduating high school was working in a factory making toasters and waffle irons for 20 cents an hour. There he became acquainted with the factory's tool and dye maker and he became interested in that trade. On Saturdays he attended Armour Institute of Technology and studied machine tool work. The instructor, Paul Anders, was superintendent of Republic Flow Meters Co. and with his help Mr. Petrakis was accepted as an apprentice tool and dye maker at Republic Flow Meters. By the time he was drafted in 1944 he had completed his training as a journeyman tool and dye maker.
Mr. Petrakis served honorably in the Navy during WWII (1944-1946). He was assigned to the USS Murrelet, AM372.
When he returned from the Navy he became interested in the new plastic industry. He applied at the Illinois Institute of Technology, formerly Armour Institute. Enrolment was filled but if he could wait a year he could then enroll. He then worked at Republic Flow Meters as a tool and dye maker for one year. He also became involved in Union negotiations, which kindled his interest in management.
He enrolled at the I.I.T. in September 1947 under the Veterans Rehabilitation Program. He was severely hearing-impaired due to his military service. Although this disability made many of his studies difficult he still ranked in the upper third of his graduating class in 1951.
Upon graduation he applied and was accepted at the Plastic Division of General American Corp. in East Chicago, Indiana as a plastic molding process engineer. He worked at GATX for two years. He then applied for a management position at Federal Tool Corp. plastic department. They did not have any openings in management but offered him a job in mold designing until a position would open.
Mr. Petrakis worked as a mold designer for about six months and then was transferred to the vacuum forming and extrusion department as production supervisor. In 1957 he was promoted to manager of the plastic molding department, which included the vacuum forming department. The molding department consisted of 36 injection molding machines from a 4 ounce to a 300 ounce machine. The 4 oz. being the size of a 4-drawer file cabinet to the 300 oz. being half the size of a railroad engine. It was a 24/7 operation. The staff consisted of 150 employees.
He served as the Civil Defense Director for the Village of Norridge Illinois during the Cuban Missile Crisis (1964-1966);
He left Federal Tool Corp in 1967 to become a sales engineer with Application Engineering Co. He stayed there for 2 years until he had an opportunity to go into business as a plastic equipment manufactures representative organization. Thus was founded B/P Plastic Equipment Co. with William "Bill" Burns in 1969.
Mr. Petrakis's son Steve joined B/P when he graduated Western Michigan University in 1975. He worked with B/P for about a year until his sales and management skills were recognized and he was offered the job as Chicago area sales manager by EMI Equipment Co. From there he progressed as sales manager for several large plastic equipment companies. He is presently Vice President of the Plastic Machinery Division of the Plastic Industry Association, formerly known as The Society of Plastic Industry. Mr. Petrakis is proud of his son's dedication and contribution to the plastic industry.
Civically, Mr. Petrakis served as a publicist and helped establish Ridgewood High School District #234 (1957-1959). He was commissioner/secretary of the Norridge Board of Fire & Police Commissioners from 1961 to 2010, making him the longest serving appointed official in the state of Illinois. He was the founding historian for the Village of Norridge, Illinois and established the Norridge Village Museum and the Norridge Veterans Museum in the historic village of Norridge, Il. (1996-2014). He initiated the formation of the Ridgewood High School Memorial for the three students killed in action in Vietnam (2005).
In 2003, he was awarded the Cook County, Il. Sheriff's Senior Medal of Honor. In 2016, he was honored with the President of the United States Volunteer Service Award, and in 2017 he received the Hoffman Estates, II, Community Hero Award.
He served as director of the Chicago Chapter of the Society of Plastic Engineers, Chairman of the Educational Committee. He is a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars, Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus, and Plastic Pioneers.
Attributing his professional success to perseverance, he fondly recalls the highlight of his career:
"While I was the Supervisor of the Continuous Vacuum Forming Department at Federal Tool all my technical experiences and engineering education was challenged. Federal Tool in collaboration with Dow Chemical Plastics Div. developed and built the first continuous vacuum forming machines. These were in operation a couple of years before I was involved.
This machine had a large plastic extruder mounted on an 8 foot high concrete platform. It had a dye that continuously produced a plastic sheet 48 inches wide. The plastic sheet was then dropped vertically passing radiant heaters so that it was reheated and pliable for vacuum forming. The heated plastic sheet was then clamped against the vacuum mold and was immediately sucked into the mold by vacuum. Within seconds the part was cooled and the vertical punch press type trim dye cut the parts while in the mold. The parts were pushed through the cutting dye and the cycle repeated. One of the dyes consisted of 12 cavities forming the Dairy Queen Banana Split dish. The other dye was a 22 cavity Sunday dish.
Due to a variety of repeated break downs of the equipment it took 4 months to produce the orders for the Sunday and Banana Split dishes. To understand and evaluate the machine failures a log was kept describing each failure and what was done to get the machine operating. By the end of the production season there was enough information of where the machine needed engineering changes. Some were simple such as increasing the diameter of safety shear pins. Others included redesigning the key way drive on the cams to a double keyways and a complete upgrade of the chain drive mechanism. The machine was then able to operate at 13 cycles per minute and the production time was reduced to2 months.
Unfortunately the major cost of the product was the amount of material that was used. The coupled arrangement of the extruder and forming machine did not allow the extruder to produce a thinner sheet. Other manufacturers separated the process and were able to produce thinner lost cost items. The Federal Tool/Dow process became obsolete."
Myron Petrakis has been married to Catherine Rinaldi since September 20, 1952. They have three grown children Stephen, Barbara and Mary, a niece Regina Rinaldi, eight grandchildren: Christina Petrakis Domanoski, Robert Renella, Rebecca Renella Kamaris, Christine Renella, Joshua Conner, Nicholas Conner, Charis Conner and Maria Post Lecocq, and 8 great grandchildren: Lincoln Domanoski, Elena Miguel, Mikayla Andrlek, Nicholas Kamaris, Lilly Conner, Gavin Conner, Roseanne Lecocq and Simone Lecocq. Mr. Petrakis has two sisters: Helen Geotsalitis, Koula Licciardi and a brother, Emanuel Petrakis.
Mr. Petrakis has previously been selected for inclusion in the 10th edition of Who's Who in America and multiple editions of Who's Who in the World and Who's Who in America.
In recognition of outstanding contributions to his profession and the Marquis Who's Who community, Mr. Petrakis has been featured on the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement website. Please visit www.ltachievers.com for more information about this honor.
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