MWSCC Delivers Market Intel, Awards Lifetime Service

By: Katie Schaefer, Cosmetics & Toiletries magazine

Posted: April 18, 2011

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Allured was present at the dinner meeting to say a few words. “The Chicago chapter (now MWSCC) was founded due to the willingness of its members to get up and talk about their technologies,” noted Allured. He continued, “I am greatly honored by having my name on that certificate. I take it as an honor of all the chapter’s founding members.”

One of the MWSCC founding members was Gus S. Kass, who was also present at the meeting and was awarded the 2010 Stanley Allured Lifetime Service Award. Kass joined the SCC in 1948, and his 64 years in the industry included a significant amount of work in hair care. “I became a cosmetic chemist at my first job, although I did not realize it then,” noted Kass. Throughout his career, Kass supported the educational mission of the MWSCC by speaking at monthly meetings and other professional events on topics related to hair care such as: oxidative coloring, permanent waving, stability testing of hair preparations, evaluation of shampoos and single fiber tensile kinetics.

Now an emeritus member of the SCC, Kass has served the SCC in roles such as professional affairs chair (1970–1971) and annual seminar technical program (1974). Perhaps what he is best known for, however, was appearing in “X-perts at your Service,” a mini-series sponsored by the Chicago Technical Societies Council on the WTTW television network. Kass spoke about the theory and chemistry of hair waving solutions and discussed the principles of emulsifying agents and their use. He was joined on the television program by George Kolar (Kolar Laboratories), Eugene Rose (Gene Rose Company), and William Colburn, PhD (Colburn Laboratories), who served as moderator.

Following Kass, the 2011 Stanley Allured Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Jerome A. Feit, who was also present at the meeting. He commented, in reference to joining the SCC, “Stan got me to come to my first SCC meeting.” In his 56 years in the personal care industry, Feit (now an emeritus member) served: as MWSCC chair (1984), as MWSCC chair-elect (1983), as MWSCC treasurer, on the MWSCC newsletter committee, on the MWSCC Suppliers’ Night (now TeamWorks) committee, and as area II director (1988).

Feit founded the first Suppliers’ Night. He also joked that after companies told their cosmetic chemists they would not pay for SCC "dinner" meetings, he proposed re-naming them as “scientific dinner meetings,” so that the costs of attending would be covered. Among his other accomplishments, Feit purchased the first set of ledgers for the treasurer and expanded the newsletter to include advertisements, which he described at the time as “working capital.”