A. George Hebel, ex-CEO of Bonal International, dies at 70
Chad Halcom
A. George Hebel
A. George Hebel III, former board chairman, president and CEO of Royal Oak-based Bonal International Inc., died Sunday after battling cancer for several years, the company confirmed Tuesday.
Hebel, 70, of Shelby Township, was president and CEO for more than 10 years of the metal stress relief company, before retiring in 2010. He continued as chairman and briefly returned to an interim president role in early 2013 while the management was contemplating a sale to DePierre Management & Manufacturing LLC.
The board of directors appointed his brother, Thomas Hebel, to all three roles in February of this year.
Bonal (OTC: BONL), a manufacturer of subharmonic vibratory metal stress-relief and weld-conditioning technology for the automotive, aerospace and other industries, is one of the smallest public companies in the region, with 15 employees and just under $2.5 million for the fiscal year that ended in March.
"He's going to be sorely missed," Thomas Hebel said Tuesday. "He lent wisdom to others and was a mentor as well as a keen designer.
"Quite frankly, he had a passion to move industry to a higher plane using the process (at Bonal) that he had helped to develop. He knew industry would greatly benefit from his product."
Hebel is credited with co-inventing the company's Meta-Lax Stress Relief technology with his late father, August Hebel Jr., and wrote the first patents for it in 1971. In 2002 he was honored by Entrepreneurs for Energy Efficiency Inc. for successfully commercializing an energy savings technology at Bonal.
DePierre Management subsidiary DMM Acquisition Corp. made an offer in February 2013 to acquire all shares of Bonal for about $1.5 million, but the plan was rejected at a stockholder meeting in March 2013. DePierre is owned by former Henniges Automotive Holdings Inc. CEO Rob DePierre.
Hebel is survived by his wife, Marilyn; three daughters, Martha "Martie" Woods, Deborah Hebel and Carey Martin; a son, John Hebel; 10 grandchildren; and six brothers and sisters.
A funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Price Funeral Home in Troy. Visitation is at 3-8 p.m. Wednesday, from 2 p.m to 8 p.m. Thursday and from 10 a.m. until the time of service at 11 a.m. Friday at the funeral home. Inurnment will be in Guardian Angel Cemetery, Rochester Hills.
Memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society.