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36 GU I D E to Y E L L OW S P R I NG S | 2O22 – 2O23 four human resource managers. We never had a strategic plan.” The company continued to grow in the ’80s, with Japan joining Italy and the Nether - lands as overseas operations, and the company reaching $60 million in sales. But “with the growth came complacency and inward orientation,” said the Dayton Daily News article, which examined the company’s attempts to address its difficul - ties. In 1990, Vernay Laboratories declared “its first-ever pre-tax loss,” the Dayton Daily News reported. That same year, the com - pany hired Robert Nagy as its CEO, telling the Dayton Daily News he “came to the company and found a manage- ment team that didn’t have the energy-level necessary to take on the Herculean task of getting Vernay back on the growth path.” Nagy instituted cost-cutting measures and negotiated a new union contract, which included “deep cuts in benefit programs and retirement plans,” according to the article. Other troubles mounted around the same time when, during construction at the company’s Dayton Street property, workers became aware of a pungent chemi- cal smell. Tests revealed high levels of soil and ground- water contamination from the inorganic compounds trichloroethene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE). Company officials later revealed that, from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, the substances may have been periodically released to the facility sanitary sewer system by pouring the liquids into floor drains,” the Yellow Springs News reported on April 8, 1999. Interviews with Vernay workers indicated that the substances also had once been used to control dust and kill weeds on the gravel parking lot behind the Dayton Street plants. a manufacturing plant in Grif- fin, Ga. Expansion continued throughout the ’80s, when Vernay opened Vernay Italia in Asti, Italy. But with the ’80s came a nationwide recession, which hit the automotive industry hard. Because 60 percent of Vernay’s business was tied to the automotive industry, accord - ing to then-Vernay CEO Steve Stephens in a March 3, 1983, News article, the nationwide slump affected the local com - pany’s sales, which began fall - ing. The same article reported that the company was laying off 65 production employees from its Yellow Springs staff of 500 workers. The 1980s continued to be a period of instability at Vernay, according to employee and labor union leader Ralph Foster. In a March 14, 1993, Dayton Daily News article Foster said, “Between 1978 and 1993, we’ve had four CEOs, four plant managers and $100,000 in memory of Presi - dent John F. Kennedy for the construction of a new library. In 1968, Vernet died sud - denly of a heart attack. At the time of his death, he held more than 100 patents for his inven- tions. The late 1950s, the 1960s and the early 1970s were “golden years” for Vernay Labo - ratories and for its relationship with the community, former CEO George Asakawa said in a 1996 News article on the company’s 50th anniversary. The company had become “known worldwide for its rubber compounding exper- tise, innovative and precise production design, and ability to bring compounding and design expertise together in a final product,” Graham wrote in his article. Healthy sales led to expan- sion, and in 1970 the company founded its European head- quarters, Vernay Europa B.V., in Holland, and in 1979 it opened ▲ In June 1964 Antioch College President James P. Dixon III awarded Sergius Vernet with an honorary doctor of engineering degree. In announcing the award, Dixon noted that Vernet pioneered fair employment practices, using his own plant and research laboratories as models. P H O T O : A N T I O C H I A N A , A N T I O C H C O L L E G E Welcome to the historic Bed & Breakfast in downtown Yellow Springs.