Valley steel expert to give free presentation

Staff report

BOARDMAN

Mahoning Valley steel industry expert Bill Farragher will give a free presentation at 10 a.m. Saturday at Boardman Library, 7680 Glenwood Ave.

The program is sponsored by the Boardman Historical Society. Reservations are suggested; call board member Dona Hammond at 330-726-0651.

In Farragher’s career in industrial marketing, he was director of marketing for both Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. and Magnecord Corp. and marketing manager for McDonald Steel Corp.

He also was president and owner of Farragher Marketing Communications and professor of marketing at what is now Youngstown State University.

He witnessed the prosperity and the decline of the local steel industry and will discuss it at Saturday’s lecture.

Farragher, of Canfield, is a Youngstown native who studied at Ohio Wesleyan University, Kenyon College and the University of Madison.

He is best known for implementing a marketing campaign centered upon the Youngstown Sheet & Tube trademark, which he created. It depicted an open- hearth blast furnace bucket. The symbol is now used by the Youngstown Steel Heritage Museum.

Farragher also managed the Gateway Arch construction project in St. Louis.

He consulted with Wean United affiliates and visited steel mills around the world. A longtime member of the American Iron and Steel Institute, he knew the Youngstown area’s steel industry leaders personally, including David Tod.

For information about the Boardman Historical Society, contact Richard S. Scarsella at 330-726-8277.