People

Schupan & Sons, Kalamazoo, Mich., has launched a new trading and brokerage office in Chicago to expand its used beverage container recycling business. The office will be headed up by Emil Kane, formerly of American National Can.

Azcon Corp., Chicago, has announced the establishment of two operating divisions. Richard Spine has been appointed president of the North Central Region, which includes the company’s Sharpsburg, Pa., and Duluth, Minn., facilities. He will also oversee the national dismantling and distribution activities of Azcon’s Rail and Track Accessory department.

Fred Francis is the new president of the Midwest Region, which includes the Alton, Ill., and Chicago processing facilities as well as the Alton Barge Dock and material transfer unit. The Chicago and St. Louis trading departments have been combined to form one brokerage unit. Joining Francis as executive vice president of the Midwest Region is Rick Jordan, who was most recently employed by the David J. Joseph Co., Cincinnati.

In Memoriam

Allen Sharp, co-founder of Al-jon Inc., Ottumwa, Iowa, died April 4. He was 64 years old. Sharp earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Iowa State University. He developed and patented many of Al-jon’s products, including the car crusher and engine puller, the latter for which he received a citation for excellence in engineering of environmental enhancement and control equipment from the American Iron and Steel Institute in 1971. Sharp, who retired in 1989, is survived by his wife, Mary, and three children, Julie Emmons, Daine, and Dan.