Charles Housen, a three-decade CEO of Erving Industries and an active member of the Franklin County community, died April 4 in his home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., at 87.
Housen was known primarily for leading Erving Industries through a long period of prosperity. But he was also active socially and philanthropically, with deep connections in both Greenfield and Athol.
Housen was born April 21, 1932, in Holyoke, and grew up mostly in Orange. Family and friends always knew him as Charley.
The paper company had been in the Housen family since 1927. At that time, Charles’ uncle Morris had been working for Holyoke Savings Bank, and was asked to take a leadership role in a young company called Erving Mills, which had been bought by a group of investors in 1916. Morris and his brother David — Housen’s father — took ownership of the company soon after.
Although Charles ended up taking over the family’s business, he had not always expected to do so, said his wife Marjorie.
Between 1957 and ’58 the couple lived in Germany for a year, where Housen was serving in the U.S. Counterintelligence Corps. In 1958 they returned to Western Massachusetts. Housen planned to work as a lawyer, and enrolled in a law program at the Western New England University in Springfield.
His plans changed with the sudden death of his uncle Morris, and by the early ’60s, Charles fully expected to take over the paper mill sooner or later, Marjorie said. He worked in the company’s sales department and served as treasurer before taking over the top leadership position from his father in 1970.
As CEO, Housen focused on expanding the company, always with an eye toward improving his employees’ standard of living, said his son Morris, the current CEO. In Housen’s three decades leading the company, it expanded to employ over 1,300 people, and owned factories up and down the East Coast and into the Midwest. Erving-branded dispensers could be found throughout the country at restaurants, bars and hotels, Morris said.
Housen’s leadership style, Morris said, was the opposite of micromanagement. He thought in big ideas, and inspired his workers to find creative routes to fulfilling his visions. Yet he was deeply knowledgeable in the technical points of papermaking, and knew when and how to invest in new technology.
“From a cultural perspective he was a tremendous model,” Morris said. “I watched his moves, I watched the kind of leader that he was. He and I are different leaders, but I like to think I modeled my leadership behavior after his.”
Meanwhile, Housen was active in local society. He and his wife Marjorie donated to Athol Hospital and Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, local fire departments, social organizations and schools. They also supported and maintained ties with Temple Israel of Athol, which Housen’s parents had been early members of, said his wife Marjorie.
In the ’60s, before taking over the paper company, Housen had been on the board of Greenfield Savings Bank (which had a different name at the time), and would proudly claim to be the youngest bank director in Massachusetts, Marjorie said. He left the bank, she said, because he didn’t think there was a future in ATM’s, and disagreed with the bank’s investment in them.
“We loved the town of Greenfield,” Marjorie said. “I still do. I think it’s a terrific little town.”
In the late ’90s, as his role in Erving Industries decreased, Housen became increasingly involved with his and Marjorie’s alma mater Brandeis University, in Waltham. He chaired the school’s board from 1998 to 2000, and was a driving force in converting Brandeis’ Graduate School of International Economics and Finance into the current Brandeis International Business School.
Housen totally retired from Erving Industries in 2001, and moved to spend most of his time in Florida. He leaves his wife Marjorie, sister Joanne Housen Rose, daughter Deborah Housen-Couriel, daughter Phyllis Housen, son Morris Housen and six grandchildren.
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.