Tropical
was started in 1952 in Hallandale, Florida, by George Gleason, the cousin of
Jackie Gleason. George ran the small, rural, company as part manufacture and
also part distributor. However, as the landscape in Florida began to shift from
rural to urban, the Gleason’s decided to put the company up for sale.
George
Gleason sold the company to two women who had just gotten out of the Marine
Corps. At this time, the company began to transform into a low end, price
oriented company. Mostly selling driveway sealer to travelers, the company did
not have the best reputation in the industry and had many tumultuous years.
Meanwhile,
Richard Zegelbone was the youngest of 7 children born in Pittsfield, MA to Mr.
and Mrs. Jack Zegelbone, and was the first child in the family to attend
college. Jack was a chemical engineer
for various companies around the country, and eventually took a job at a friend’s
family business in Des Moines, Iowa. However, after his friend died, the sons
running the family business fired Jack. Out of work at 63, Jack moved around
the country and eventually to Miami Beach. After searching for a while, Jack
took a job for minimum wage working the sales counter at the company owned by
the two Marine Corps women. While working the sales counter, Jack knew that the
women were about to go out of business, and decided to take his life savings of
$20,000 and buy the company from them. At
that moment he called his son Richard, who had just graduated from college and
was set to go to law school in the fall, and asked him to help run the company.
Richard
worked various positions within the company, starting at the ground level in
the warehouse and operating the forklift. As the Zegelbone’s took over the
company, they started producing better quality products and professional grade
materials. By creating better materials for their customers, the Zegelbone’s
began selling product all over the state of Florida. By joining many different
trade organizations, creating better materials, and adding organization throughout
the company, Tropical began to shed their old and negative reputation.
Being
active in trade organizations led Richard Zegelbone to meet a family with a
similar manufacturing family business in Los Angeles, California. In 2001,
Richard negotiated with the family, and bought the California facility to
launch Tropical Roofing Products nationwide. A year later, Tropical Roofing
Products expanded once again, and moved into a facility in Port Arthur, Texas.
Tropical
Roofing Products has been successful in this industry for one simple reason; we
develop good quality materials - moving away from old hazardous materials, and
creating new products such as the PowerGelTM structure. Tropical Roofing Products continues to develop
and create new asphalt and sustainable elastomeric coating products for our nationwide
distribution demands.
For over 50 years, Tropical Roofing
Products has supplied the industrial and commercial marketplace with the most
dependable commercial roofing materials on the market. More information can be found on our website: http://TropicalRoofingProducts.com.
