D A N. T. M O O R E III '63

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication Mosaic in February, 1998.

Dan T. Moore III '63

Changing careers for a living

Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford seemed to have had Daniel T. Moore III '63 in mind when he declared, "I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done." Moore, a Cleveland, Ohio-based entrepreneur who began his career by developing a revolutionary method for rustproofing an automobile frame, has gone on to create and patent a variety of ways of preventing corrosion and vibration problems in automobiles, largely for the company founded by Ford but also for the Chrysler Motor Corp. Moore also has developed the world's best-selling wheelchair-tire, designed a shoe with a customized in-sole aimed at bringing blissful smiles to the faces of police officers and mail carriers, and helped to develop a new form of industrial ceramic used in the high-speed computer chips found in cellular phones.

Moore is the president, owner, and founder of four manufacturing companies whose 350 employees produce a diverse array of automobile parts, rubber products, and industrial ceramic products. He is also managing partner of Whiskey Island Partners, which is developing a marina complex on a half-mile of Cleveland's downtown lakefront.

What is the common denominator of all his ventures? Moore says it is the ability of each venture to indulge his personal interest. "It's easy to make money," the entrepreneur asserts. "What's more important is that you're fascinated by the day that's in front of you. The world of being an entrepreneur and working on new products is exciting because you change your career all the time. You're working with machines one day and you're working with financial markets another day."

Thinking broadly
According to this former economics major, the diversity of his business ventures directly reflects his diverse educational experiences at Trinity. "The most important thing about being educated in a liberal arts fashion is not knowing a lot about how to paint, or a little about German literature or Russian history," he says. "The most important thing is not to be afraid of anything and to believe you can do anything."

After graduating from Trinity, Moore earned an MBA at Harvard, where he concentrated on acquisitions, new venture analysis, and small business. After Harvard, he served for three years as an analyst in the marketing and new business development department at Standard Oil Company of Ohio and worked on such projects as the development of an interstate restaurant and motel chain. He left Standard Oil to become a sales representative for a small, Cleveland-based paint, sealant and rustproofing supply company Parr, Inc. It marked a turning point in his career.

"I developed a way, with a lot of other people helping, to rustproof a car frame in the factory -- to actually take a hot-rolled, 20-foot-long automobile frame and dip it into a coating that would enable it to be durable in the salt environment of New England." The process significantly extended the time an automobile would remain resistant to rust. "That was a real home run," Moore claims.

The milestone prompted Moore, in 1971, to found Foam Seal Inc., a company in which he developed a new process for making polyvinyl chloride foam, and to begin to indulge a new interest. In 1979, he teamed with a group of investors and purchased the Invacare Corporation, a producer of durable medical products, from Johnson & Johnson. "I had a cousin who was confined to a wheelchair and who was always talking about how poorly made and designed wheelchairs were," he explains. Moore test-marketed new designs of wheelchair tires and later patented a design for a tire that had half the weight and rolling resistance of a competitive wheelchair tire. The tire's manufacture and subsequently the development of other new products helped boost the company's annual sales from $18 million to a $700 million today.

A revolutionary ski helmet
Moore's cousin is not the only family member whose life inspired him to develop a new product with human health, well-being and safety as its purpose. When his 29-year-old daughter, Wendy, died last year as the result of a head injury sustained in a skiing accident, Moore and his daughters Halley, 26, and Heather, 29, formed a company called Team Wendy and developed a revolutionary ski helmet -- one that he believes would have saved his daughter's life. The helmet will make its debut at the Snow Sports Industries of America show in Las Vegas next month.

What's currently on the drawing board for Moore? Like Henry Ford, whose words seemingly inspired Moore and who later in life diversified his own ventures by starting a health care system in Michigan, Moore is now involved with health care. He is serving as chairman of a committee at The Cleveland Clinic which is exploring the development of a national home health care model for the federal government. Building upon the city's population base and its extensive use of home health care, Moore believes he stands a good chance of accomplishing his goal. "If we can do things that other people can't do, I want to take full advantage of that," Moore notes.

-Suzanne Zack