Sam Cohen

Sam Cohen has never been much interested in publicity. During his 60 years in the chemical industry--and more than 40 years running his own business--Cohen was never quoted in print and he rarely advertised.

But he agreed to talk with C&EN about his career in the hope that his ideas and experiences would be of interest to chemists who dream of going into business for themselves one day. He also hopes to inspire other successful chemical executives to support biochemical and medical research--with money as well as active participation.

Cohen was born and grew up in a New York City where the chemical industry was still a part of the landscape. After graduating from high school in 1939, he enrolled in evening classes at the City College of New York (CCNY), where he earned a B.S. in chemistry. He later earned an M.S. in chemistry from New York University and a law degree from Brooklyn Law School, both by attending night classes.

In 1944, he joined Glyco Products, a local supplier of oleochemicals and other products to cosmetics, food, and industrial firms, as a junior chemist. Cohen worked there for 17 years--in product development, production, sales and marketing, and finally as vice president of sales--but he left in October 1961 after the company was sold and he didn't see eye to eye with the new owner.

Unemployed, Cohen decided to start his own business rather than look for a job at another company. He had no equipment or facilities of his own, however, and only enough savings to last about a year. Furthermore, he was determined to avoid borrowing or approaching outside investors.

Cohen says his business contacts and technical and legal background prepared him well to set up a company. He called the firm Lipo Chemicals--from the Greek word for fat or oil--because he planned to market oleochemicals. He named his mother as secretary/treasurer and two friends, both Ph.D. chemists and CCNY alumni, as directors. He assumed the title of president.

David Perlman, Cohen's favorite chemistry professor, introduced him to Morris Mattikow, an oleochemist and CCNY alumnus, who gave him desk space at no charge in offices on West 42nd Street in Manhattan. With a $10-a-month telephone answering service and 500 business cards, Cohen set out to make his fortune.

At the time, New York City was the center of the American chemical world. Cohen often had dinner with Mattikow at the Chemists' Club on 41st Street, where they would meet other chemists. Cohen's first major investment was to rent space, at $100 a month, in the Starrett-Lehigh industrial building on West 26th Street. There, he built a makeshift lab with secondhand equipment and a homemade bench.

Cohen was also active in the Society of Cosmetic Chemists, helping to arrange member travel to scientific meetings. In this capacity, he worked with a young woman, coincidentally named Ruth Cohen, at a nearby travel agency. After hours, she would come to his new office to help with paperwork, sample preparation, and other chores. The two later married, and Ruth has remained an active participant in her husband's business endeavors.

In his early years, Cohen got around his lack of funds and facilities by working with toll manufacturers, including the Baltimore-based company Alcolac. In return for technical expertise and a sales guarantee, Alcolac agreed to a 12-year contract granting Cohen exclusive sales rights to a line of sorbitan esters and ethoxylates. Alcolac made the products and shipped them in Lipo's name, getting paid after Lipo's customers paid.

In 1965, Cohen set up new labs and offices on East 32nd Street. Ten years later, he purchased a distribution firm in Paterson, N.J., where he moved his operation and installed his own manufacturing facilities. By 1996, Lipo had annual sales approaching $50 million and a customer list that included cosmetics giants such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Avon, and L'Oreal. "We never had a year in which profits or sales fell," he says.

In 1986, Cohen sold the majority of Lipo to his first employee. He wrote a 10-year contract for himself and remained president until 1996, when he turned over the balance of his stock and resigned from the firm.

"We never had a year in which profits or sales fell."

HE THEN turned his attention to Woburn Chemical, a New Jersey maker of fatty acid derivatives that he had previously purchased. Today, Cohen says, Woburn has more than 30 cosmetics industry customers that buy the firm's unique personal care ingredients.

At the same time, he is devoting more of his attention to a charitable foundation he set up to support biochemical and medical research. Cohen has helped fund CCNY's Biomedical Research Programs, which, under the direction of professor emeritus Myer M. Fishman, provide underprivileged students with an opportunity to conduct research in chemistry, biology, or physics before continuing on for graduate degrees.

And working with David E. Cohen, an associate professor in the dermatology department at New York University School of Medicine, he is sponsoring epidemiological research into methods of detecting allergic reactions to chemicals that touch the skin. Cohen intends to establish regular meetings with the students and scientists in both research efforts so he can follow their progress and contribute where possible.

At the moment, Cohen is developing both a new business plan for Woburn and a method for funneling the company's profits into his charitable causes. He does not, however, see these moves as a prelude to his exit from the business world. "I enjoy what I'm doing," he says. "Once this new plan for Woburn is activated, I expect it to grow very quickly."