Dr. Irwin William Fischbein

My dad was 94 years old and is survived by his wife (Sarah) of 72 years (they met when she was 13 and he was 17) and his children Cora and Steve and their spouses (John and Robin) and his grandchildren, Jeff (and wife Caitlin), Hannah (and husband Tom), Sarah and Ben, and great grandchild Moira.

My father was a brilliant scientist who had a PhD in biophysics from Berekely (1950) and worked for Gillette Company in Boston, Mass for his entire career. There he pioneered the use of transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy in looking at the wear of razor blade edges caused by the interaction with human hair, and invented new coatings for razor blade edges that changed and shaped the world of modern shaving techniques. If you shave with a razor, then you owe a smooth shave to my dad. He invented the razor blade coatings for “The Spoiler” and “The Platinum Plus” which were teflon and platinum and teflon coatings to protect blade edges and allowed them to cut through human hair with the least possible resistance. As far as I know, his patents are still in use today, and were copied by every major razor blade manufacturer in the world. In fact, he spent the last years of his career as an expert witness for Gillette defending against patent infringement cases internationally. My dad was literally, a genius with straight A’s through his B.Sc. in forestry, M.Sc., in Wood Technology (at Syracuse University) and PhD.

In his final years he was burdened by advancing dementia, but even with that impairment he was still smarter than most people I have ever met. He was a loving father and husband with a great sense of humor and was always quick with a pun or a quip, and he was never bashful about speaking what was on his mind. Even just last Friday we were joking around and he was telling me he thought if he made 100 it would be a good goal and he would be satisfied. While he didn’t make that goal, he lived a long and full life and will be sorely missed by his immediate and extended family and friends. I love you dad. May the energy that was you that is now in entropy make a star burn a little brighter somewhere in this vast universe. Rest in peace. Dr. Irwin William Fischbein, December 6, 1920 – March 22, 2015.

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