The Grainger College of Engineering

Howard Friedman

Howard Friedman
Howard Friedman
To Howard Friedman for his entepreneurial skills and creative use of metallurgical engineering knowledge to establish a highly successful metallurgy company.

President and Chairman, Fotofabrication Corporation, Chicago, Illinois

  • BS, Metallugical Engineering, 1955, Univeristy of Illinois

After leaving UIUC in 1955, Howard Friedman conducted research on fiber metallurgy at Armour Research Foundation (now the IIT Research Institute) and ran the metallographic laboratory at Armour. He also studied photography at the ITT Institute of Design. From 1960-67, he served as president of a family business, Champion Laundry Company. In 1967, he left the family business and founded Fotofabrication Corporation, a company specializing in photo-chemical machining-a process to manufacture thin metal parts using photography and chemistry. During the past 29 years, the company has grown from a one-person operation to a company with 30 employees and annual sales exceeding $3.5 million. Fotofabrication serves clients throughout the United States and has some international clients. Friedman has written extensively about photo-chemical machining and currently serves as director of the Photo Chemical Machining Institute.

He has been a loyal volunteer, both at UIUC and with other organizations. He has served on the boards of several organizations, including the University of Illinois Alumni Association, Department of Materials Science and Engineering Alumni Board (currently vice president and president elect), and Department of Materials Science and Engineering Senior Advisory Committee, which advises the department head on financial issues. He also chaired a fund drive to honor professor emeritus Robert W. Bohl.

He believes in the importance of helping engineering students develop their careers. In the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, he spearheaded the effort to launch a student mentor program and has participated in Career Night programs.

Current as of 1996.