Ron Swidler was the first chemist to be hired at SRI's new Southern California Labs in 1956 and he helped build the South Pasadena labs. He developed long-term client relationships that kept him busy for many years. After Ron transferred to Menlo Park in 1970, he managed the Organic Special Programs Department. After several years, he decided that management didn't suit his skills and that he wanted to stick to chemical research. As an independent researcher, he could promote and direct his own projects and lend support to other ongoing projects that needed his creative skills.
One outstanding success was Ron's invention and development of Ankaphast, a new class of dyes developed under a contract with Burlington Industries. The dyes were stable to light and laundering and were much easier to manufacture than other dye systems. For other clients, he developed and patented processes for making permanent press fabrics, fire retardant coatings for fabrics, and new inks and toners for color printers.
In 1975, Dr. Swidler joined the project sponsored by Savin Business Machines, which was the largest commercial project at SRI at that time. SRI was developing a completely new line of office copiers for Savin, using a newly conceived liquid-toner approach. The project was set up in the Engineering Group, where experts in electronics, electrostatics, optical imaging, and mechanical design were available. Ron Swidler brought to the project a complete understanding of the chemical requirements for such an undertaking—the chemistry of the photoconductive drum, the toner development materials, and the entire exposure process. The Chairman of Savin, Mr. Paul Charlap, told us that the results of our work produced more than $100 million in new copier sales.
In his 32 years at SRI, Ron worked with all three SRI business groups and with researchers in many disciplines. His thirty patents and numerous patents pending do not fully reflect the range of his creativity in fields such as fatty acid chemistry, dye and pigment chemistry, cellulose chemistry, textiles processing, boron chemistry, and electro-photography. Ron Swidler's legacy is an outstanding example of how we can work across divisions in interdisciplinary teams to succeed on complex projects.