BOWIE, Md. – Valebridge Media Services and its Retreading Business and Tyre & Rubber Recycling publications have presented Marvin Bozarth, retired executive director of the former International Tire & Rubber Association (ITRA), with the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award in the Tire Retreading Sector.
The honor is part of the organizers’ second annual Recircle Awards program, which is a global event that recognizes the contributions of companies and individuals within the tire manufacturing, retreading and recycling industries towards the circular economy.
The winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award and other winners were announced April 25 during a virtual awards ceremony broadcast on Facebook and YouTube. Recipients will receive their awards either May 24 during The Tire Cologne exhibition in Cologne, Germany, or May 26 at the Autopromotec exhibition in Bologna, Italy.
Bozarth was recognized for a lifetime of significant contribution to the tire retreading industry over the course of his career, said David Wilson, managing director of Valebridge Media and editor/publisher of Retreading Business and Tyre & Rubber Recycling, which are based in the United Kingdom. He is “a legend in the North American retreading industry, a larger-than-life figure who contributed hugely to the retreading industry during his career.”
In announcing the award during the virtual ceremony, Wilson said Bozarth spent the first 20 years of his career at Purcell Tire & Rubber Co., based in Potosi, Mo., where he rose to become vice president of manufacturing before moving on to ITRA, a predecessor organization of the Tire Industry Association (TIA), where he later became executive director. Bozarth left ITRA in 2000 and remained with TIA as a senior technical consultant until 2018.
“Marvin’s contributions to the retreading industry around the world is not in doubt,” Wilson said. “A larger-than-life figure, he fills a room wherever he is, and this award is richly deserved.”
TIA CEO Richard “Dick” Gust said on the virtual broadcast “there is no one in the industry more knowledgeable about retread tires than Marvin Bozarth.” Gust, who worked in retreading early in his career, said there were many times where he would call Bozarth for advice on retread manufacturing problems and how to make tires better. “He was always willing to spend as much time talking with me as he possibly could,” he said.
Gust said he has known Bozarth for “probably” 40 years and worked with him as an ITRA board member. “Marvin was a mentor to many people in the industry,” he said, adding “there is no one more deserving to get the lifetime achievement award for retreading tires.”
Bozarth is the second recipient of the Recircle Lifetime Achievement Award in the Tire Retreading Sector. The first was Hans-Juergen Drechsler, who was the technical director of BIPAVER, the European retreading association.
In addition to the Lifetime Achievement Award in retreading, the Recircle Awards also presented a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Tire Recycling Sector as well as 18 additional categories.