Moving Metal

“It starts at the top,” said Hannah, and “goes from our Board all the way down through to the floor of the shop. We are serious about safety.” Soon Reliance had reason to be serious about Bill Gimbel’s health as well. One morning during the mid-1980s, Joe Crider walked into Bill Gimbel’s office to find his boss sitting at his desk, with a big smile as usual, but struggling to do some paperwork. Crider realized that Gimbel was in distress and asked, “Bill, what’s wrong with you today?” “I don’t know but I can’t write this right now,” Gimbel replied. Crider looked at the paper and saw that Gimbel’s handwriting had become abnormally tiny, cramped, and almost illegible. It was a condition called micrographia. Alarmed by what he saw, Crider pressed his boss to see a doctor—Gimbel’s family had been urging him to do the same thing. He acquiesced and underwent some medical tests. The diagnosis was dev- astating. Gimbel was experiencing the onset of Parkinson’s disease—micrographia was a classic symptom. Over time Gimbel could expect to lose his mobility and his ability to perform everyday functions such as speaking, walking, and caring for himself. He had some big decisions to make. On January 26, 1987, at age sixty-eight, Gimbel resigned as President of Reliance after almost thirty years in the job. He did not let his condition force him into retirement, though. He was still among Reliance’s largest shareholders, along with his sister, Florence Neilan. Gimbel moved up to become CEO and Chairman of the Board. The Board elected Joe Crider the new President of Reliance. He was also named Chief Operating Officer, a position that he had held de facto for the past twelve years. Crider was prepared to take over the company, but he was himself fifty-eight years old and thinking ahead to his own

Joe Crider, left, with Bob Zurbach, center, in the 1980s. Crider became President of Reliance in 1987.

retirement. Unsure of how long Crider would serve as Pres- ident and how long Gimbel could effectively remain active in the company, the two men began planning for the future management of the company. Hannah was the clear choice, but he did not have any operations experience, so Gimbel and Crider suggested that he go out and actually run an oper- ation to learn how that end of the business worked. In August 1989, Hannah took over as Division Manager of the Vernon flagship plant for a year. “It was an eye-opening experience,” Hannah later recalled. “It is easy, sitting in corporate head- quarters, to tell the divisions what to do. Doing it is difficult.” John F. Jastrem filled in for Hannah as Reliance CFO, while also serving as CFO for subsidiaries Valex, MetalCenter, Inc., and Arnold Technologies Incorporated.

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