In 1974, Longswamp Township resident Jack Wilson took a risk in the midst of a deep economical recession by starting his own company, ABEC, Inc. in Bethlehem.
With little startup money and a head full of ideas, he worked to build what is today one of the world’s leaders in the biopharmaceutical industry.
Jack will turn 90 on July 23, and while he may not be able to do as much as he used to, he remains active with his company and employees, continuing to go into work several days a week.
“I spend time with the employees,” he said. “They keep me informed of the general morale and give suggestions. I try to keep a dialogue going at all levels.”
Despite the fact that most people his age are retired, Jack believes his continued involvement with his company is what keeps him at his best.
“I think the brain is like a muscle,” he said. “A muscle atrophies if you don’t use it. Just like that, I have to keep my brain at work. I did retire for a short period of time and found out I was no damn good at it.”
Jack’s son, Steve Wilson, of Maxatawny, says his father has “led his life at the tip of the spear.”
“He started a business with a little cash, a legal pad and two green pencils,” said Steve. “Unless you do it, it’s tough to understand the difficulty of making payroll, selling, building and growing a business. He needs to be commended for how hard he worked to keep the company in this region and how much he regarded and trusted the local labor pool and their work ethic.”
Steve grew up with four sisters, and his father’s unceasing work ethic provided for them everything they needed, including college tuition and a stable home on the family farm in Longswamp Township.
“He just plain flat worked hard and made a real, lasting impact in his part of the biotech world,” said Steve. “His company designs and builds first line process equipment and is widely known to be the best at it.”
Growing up in Corning, New York, Jack went on to join the Navy in 1943. He worked several jobs over the years, including a position with an oil company in Venezuela. He married his wife Jean in 1953, and they started their family in Newcastle, Delaware.
Jack’s path led him to Allentown, where he worked for a general contracting company. He had customers in the Kutztown area and traveled there frequently.
“I really liked the area,” he said. “I decided I wanted to live here, so I bought our farm in 1960. The way I started the business was I felt that what I was doing at my job wasn’t being appreciated, so it wasn’t as rewarding as it ought to be. I decided to start my own business, and the rest is history.”
Jack now holds three patents in his field. His company is a provider to pharmaceutical and biotech companies throughout the world, and the processes and equipment created at ABEC help to produce many of the world’s leading pharmaceuticals.
In 2013, ABEC, Inc. was voted PA Employer of the Year. Last December, Jack was inducted into the Lehigh Valley Business Hall of Fame.
While the ABEC headquarters is located in Bethlehem, the company has branched out to include offices and manufacturing spaces in Missouri, as well as overseas in China and Ireland.
“When we started, it was a terrible time to start because it was bad for business,” said Jack. “For a couple years, we had difficulties and were suffering. It was quite a while until the business took off, but now we’ve had a very stable work force. There was one period where we went 20 years without laying anyone off.”
Today, Jack estimates ABEC to have at least 500 employees. The company continues to prosper and remains a leader in the field.
Jack now works half days, and when he’s not working, he is a swimmer and a firearms enthusiast.
“I swim everyday,” he said. “I keep in pretty good shape. I don’t hunt anymore, but I shoot some, and I build my own guns, so that’s something I’m pretty good at.”
ABEC continues to grow, and Jack plans to stay involved in the company he built from the ground up with high hopes for it’s continued success.
“When you start with nothing, you got the world ahead of you,” he said. “We started with a handful of people and survived the early years, and we’re still here today.”
