Our story begins in Akron, Ohio, during World War II. Goldie Lippman was a supervisor in one of Akron's many rubber factories, manufacturing life rafts and rubber products for the war effort, where she and her co-workers discovered how difficult it was to clean their hands after a day’s work. The men who had worked in the rubber factories before the war had dipped their hands in chemicals like kerosene and benzene at the end of a shift in order to remove the graphite and carbon black. These harsh chemicals took a toll on workers’ hands, and Goldie and her husband Jerry set out to find a better solution. This kindled the spirit of innovation that led to the founding of GOJO in 1946. Jerry knew he needed help solving this important human problem. So he visited the chemistry department at Kent State University in search of a chemist to help him develop a hand cleaner that would be effective against difficult soils and safe for skin. He found Professor Clarence Cook, and the two worked together to invent what became the first-ever one-step, rinse-off GOJO® Hand Cleaner.