鈥淲e've got plastic in our veins,鈥� Leo Montagna Sr. said shortly after his 81st birthday.聽
He was still at work then, as director of sales, at Lee Plastics in Sterling, the company his son, Leo Jr. (Lowell Tech 鈥�70, ULowell 鈥�76), had founded in 1976聽鈥攈aving founded his own company, a maker of plastic buttons, 37 years before that.
Leo Sr. was 91 when he died in 2011, and had come to the office almost daily until the end.聽
Lee Plastics is a family business. You couldn't call it anything else, even with the patriarch no longer around. Leo Jr., as founder and president, heads the operation; his sister, Mary, runs the office; his nephew, Christian Smialek 鈥�98, 鈥�00, Leo Sr.鈥檚 grandson, is a project engineer.
His father helped him buy his first press, a used one that Leo Jr. managed to keep running for more than a decade. Today the company is a specialist in plastic instrumentation and controls for industry.
After he earned his bachelor鈥檚 at Lowell Tech in 1970, Leo Jr. went to work for a company in Worcester, only to find, he says, 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to work for anyone else.鈥� So he returned to the school in pursuit of his master鈥檚. But by thesis-writing time he had his eye on something else.
鈥淚 got interested in starting the company. Then I got involved with it, and before I knew it we were starting up operations just as I was trying to finish school. And the thesis, the coursework, just wasn鈥檛 getting done.鈥澛�
It might never have gotten done, he says鈥攁nd he would not have had his master鈥檚鈥攊f a savior, Plastics Engineering Prof. Nick Schott (today a professor emeritus), hadn鈥檛 intervened.聽
鈥淥ne day he came up and said to me, 鈥榃hat are you doing? 聽How come you鈥檙e still around?鈥� And I told him. 鈥榃ell,鈥� he said, 鈥楥ome on up to my office and we鈥檒l get you going.鈥� And he did. He gave me the help I needed. I鈥檇 never have finished without him,鈥� Montagna says.聽
The Plastics Engineering Department was a unique place, he says.聽
鈥淭hat department was like a family. Really. The opportunities we had, the good times鈥攊t was never just 鈥楪o to class,鈥� 鈥楪o to lab,鈥� 鈥楾ake a test,鈥� it was always more than that. There was a great feeling fostered there. I think it鈥檚 still that way.鈥澛�
Ever since he left ULowell, he has remained faithful in his support: 鈥淚t began small: 10, 15, 20 dollar gifts鈥攊n the beginning, that was all I could afford,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut over time, as I鈥檝e grown more prosperous, the amounts have increased.鈥澛�
Indeed they have. Montagna鈥檚 lifetime gift total as of 2013 is close to $750,000. A large percentage of this, represented by the Lee Plastics Discretionary Endowment Fund, is devoted to the support and improvement of the equipment the Plastics Engineering Department maintains for teaching and research.聽
Though he understands, he says, as a long-time plastics-company CEO, that 鈥渢he department鈥檚 access to the best equipment is every bit as important as scholarship giving,鈥濃�攊n the end there is something even more fundamental than this underpinning his generosity:聽
鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 be where I am today, in the position I鈥檓 in, without UMass Lowell. It just isn鈥檛 in the cards. So the way I look at it is, I owe this to the University. Whatever I can give, I think is due.鈥�