Roger Sustar was inducted into the Viking Hall of Fame on April 30, 1999.  Check out a recent story about Roger in the 'Look at Us Now' gallery of this website.  There is a story about Roger learning how to be successful in business by using his experience.  It was published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on August 28, 2011.

Our classmate Roger Sustar gives a lot of credit for his success in business to a lesson learned from Marianist Brother Gilbert Gensler in 1959.  Roger was a junior in Brother Gensler’s Algebra II at St. Joe’s.  He admits that he was coasting in the class at first, figuring he would do okay.  “I thought I would pass because I was a nice guy,� he says, “But Brother gave me a failing grade—a 69—on my first report card that year.  After that I started working hard and earned marks of 95 or better for the rest of the year.�

“Brother Gensler taught me that you only got out of life what you put into it.�

It was a lesson he never forgot.  Roger started his company, Fredon Corp., in 1969 with a loan of $3750.  By the time he was inducted into the Viking Hall of Fame, Fredon was a $5-million-a-year precision machining firm, and it is still prospering.  In 1996 Fredon was recognized as “Business of the Year� by the Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce.  Over the years, the awards kept coming: 1998, Fredon was named one of the “Fast Track 50� companies in the Lake-Geauga county area; 2000, “Northcoast 99�—one of the 99 best companies to work for in Northeast Ohio; 2002, “Northcoast 99� again, plus the “Manny Award,� and the “Lake-Geauga Fast Track 50 Award� (also in 2003); 2005, “Leader of the Year� in Lake County; 2007, “Fast Track 50� again (and in 2009), Hall of Fame in Lake County, “The Leading Edge� award; 2008, repeats of other awards plus “American Machinist Top 10 Machine Shops in America;� 2009, “Pillar Award for Community Service,� “Northeast Ohio’s Finest Community Leader,� “Weatherhead 100� (Case Western Reserve’s Weatherhead School of Management award); 2010, Inc. Magazine “Inc. 5000,� “Leading Edge Award� from The Entrepreneurs EDGE & Crain’s Cleveland Business, “Spurgeon Award� from the Greater Western Reserve Council of the Boy Scouts of America; “NEO Success� Award from Inside Business Magazine, “Gus Gehring Award� from the United Way of Lake County, and a safety award from the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and the Lake County Safety Council.  Those are just the big ones.

Roger gets recognized because his head and heart are in it all the way, especially in the area of helping young people to get worthwhile jobs in manufacturing.  He promotes apprenticeships and other training initiatives in the metalworking field.  He has launched the “Cannons of Fredon� program to teach students how to operate the various types of equipment, and in the process, they manufacture one-tenth scale replicas of Napoleonic-era cannons.  The program was recently featured in the Lake County News Herald and featured in Industry Week magazine.

He has been a member of the Lakeland Community College board of trustees and has assisted in establishing a machine trades apprenticeship program.  He has recently had a scholarship established in his name.

Roger has been the chair of the National Tooling and Machining Association and co-founder of the Ohio Tooling and Machining Association.  He also founded AWT, the Alliance for Working Together, to serve as a forum for manufacturers in Lake County to discuss common business issues.  The group is working to establish an Associate’s Degree in manufacturing at Lakeland Community College.

Roger is currently engaged in an AWT program for high school students: a robobot competition!  Check these out on the AWT or the Fredon website or on FaceBook.

Roger and his wife Judy (VA ’61) have two children who are now in position to take over Fredon Corp. when Roger finally retires.

Roger has worked hard on the Class of 1961 Reunion Committee and personally underwrote this website financially.  Roger Sustar is a generous, supportive, and tireless worker on behalf of our class and our school.
Posted By: Administrator - 04-29-2011
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