ISRI Honors Ron Reich with Lifetime Achievement Award

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) honored industry veteran Ron Reich with its Lifetime Achievement Award at ISRI’s annual convention and exposition in Las Vegas this week. Over the course of his career, which began more than five and a half decades ago at H. Kramer & Co., Reich became a leading expert in metals identification. Many of his methods are still in use today throughout the industry.

“Ron Reich is a recycling innovator and educator who has made numerous positive and long-lasting contributions to the industry,” said Robin Wiener, president of ISRI, in a statement. “He is very well respected throughout the industry for his honor and integrity. His depth of knowledge related to metals identification, and his corresponding willingness to share it with others, has proven to be invaluable to the field of recycling. ISRI is proud to recognize Ron Reich with its Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Reich's career in the industry began when he worked at H. Kramer & Co. while on summer college break. After graduating from Bowling Green University, and serving in the United States Marine Corps, he was employed by H. Kramer as warehouse manager. As warehouse manager, he was responsible for receiving, processing and grading material for the furnaces producing brass ingot. After 10 years, he was transferred to the El Segundo, Calif., location as a buyer, later serving on the board of directors. In 1985, Reich began working as a nonferrous manager at Schnitzer Steel before moving on to Timco. This allowed him to expand his metals expertise into aluminum. After 20 years at Timco, Reich moved to Atlas Pacific, where he returned to his first love of brass. Throughout his career, he has lived by his motto: “A good deal is a good deal for everyone.”

Reich is renowned throughout the industry for his knowledge of metal. In addition to the many seminars he taught on metals identification, he created a Metals Identification Chart that proved invaluable to the recycling industry. He was also very active in ISRI. He was a member of the West Coast Chapter for more than 45 years, serving as an officer and board member during that time. From 1972 to 1974, Reich served as the Commander of the Jewish War Veterans scrap industry association.

Sam Proler, industry leader and head of Proler Steel, was also presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the convention earlier this week.