INVENTOR OF RED SOLO CUP HAS ALSO DIED

2016 claimed another famous person. Robert Leo Hulseman the man who invented the red Solo cup died last week at age 84. The Solo Cup Company was the family business — Hulseman’s father started it in 1936 — and Hulseman started working in the company factory when he was 18. He worked his way up to CEO of the company, succeeding his father in 1980 and helping the company grow into one of the largest food service packaging companies in the world. In the beginning, the Illinois-based company made the kind of cone-shaped paper cups you find next to the office water cooler. Then, in the 1950s, it added wax-lined cups to its lineup. Sometime in the 1970s, Hulseman came up with the thick, molded polystyrene red cups that are now a party staple. The cups later came in blue, but the red still keeps outselling. The company says they have tested colors over and over. “Consumers prefer red, and it’s not very close,” a company executive said.
* The family says there will be a memorial service, followed by a private recycling this weekend.
* Some men have greatness thrust upon them. Others pour it from a keg.
* Let’s not forget the valuable role these cups play in beer pong.
* Look, Robert on a normal year, we’d give you more publicity, but we had a lot of dead celebrities this year so this is all we can do.
* I guess molded polystyreme really accents the beer flavor.
* This invention really helped with fights at parties. See, you can’t hit someone over the head with a red cup.