Retread Pioneer George Edwards Dies

(Akron/Tire Review) George Edwards, one of the founders of the former American Retreaders Association whose efforts on behalf of U.S. retreaders earned him induction into the Tire Industry Hall of Fame, has died.

Edwards was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1996. He also received the ARA’s Industry Leadership Award in 1969.

Edwards, who also founded the Retreader’s Journal, and Red Davis founded the Central States Retreaders Association in 1963 specificially to give a voice to U.S. retreaders who felt left out by the larger National Tire Dealers & Retreaders Association. Edwards served as the association’s first executive director, a post he held until 1968.

The CSRA became the ARA in 1964 as the group tackled a key patent infringement case that could have effectively ended independent retreading in this country.

Through his position in the ARA and in his Retreader’s Journal articles, Edwards pushed retreaders to take more interest in retreading technology as a means to continuously improve the product. He is credited with created the “unit value system” for evaluating retread production efficiency, a bead-to-bead measuring system for fitting tread stock, and retread adhesion tests.