BY SY WAKESBERG
July 4 is an auspicious date for Ted Lipman, 81, co-chairman of the members committee of Tennessee Valley Recycling (Decatur, Ala.). It’s not only Independence Day, it’s also his birthday and the day he first went on a blind date with Dede Denbo, the woman who has been his wife for nearly 57 years. Scrap recyclers have much to celebrate on July 4 because those two events eventually resulted in Lipman entering the scrap business—a turn of events that led to his personal happiness and professional success and to the advancement of the industry.
Northern Roots
Though he has spent most of his life in Pulaski, Tenn., Lipman was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., “in the shadow of Ebbets Field.” (He still has autographs from the great Brooklyn Dodgers of his youth, including Dixie Walker, Pee Wee Reese, and the entire 1941 National League championship team.) After graduating from Boys’ High School in Brooklyn, he entered the military, earning a Purple Heart while serving with the 9th Infantry Division in Germany in World War II.
After completing his military service, Lipman headed south to Nashville, Tenn., where he had family ties, to attend Vanderbilt University. He received a bachelor’s degree in economics and business administration in 1949; married Dede, whom he had met two years earlier, in 1950; and the following year began working for her father, Isaac (Ike) Denbo, in the family’s scrap business, I. Denbo Scrap Materials. After Ike’s death in 1974, Lipman and his brother-in-law Charles Denbo became partners in running the business.
Lipman has fond memories of Ike and Charles Denbo. “I received very good training from my father-in-law and brother-in-law,” he says. Back then, the “miniscule” company he joined was “primarily a country collection point for produce items generated on farms: eggs, poultry, hides, roots, ginseng, wool, skins,” he says. “Scrap was one of the commodities generated from farming operations.” Over time, he says, man-made items took the place of farm-raised produce, “but nothing took the place of scrap iron.” As the scrap metal industry grew, he says, “we grew with it, and it gradually took over. The demand for scrap as a raw material continued to become more and more important.”
As Denbo Scrap Materials took on more ferrous and nonferrous business, it began to invest in scrap processing equipment. One purchase is a bittersweet memory: In 1979, the company bought its first hydraulic shear, and Charles Denbo traveled to Germany to arrange for the machine’s delivery. He took ill while on the trip and died soon after his return home, leaving Lipman to run the business.
A different equipment investment led to what’s most likely Lipman’s greatest legacy, though—shredder education. “In 1972 we realized the importance of the shredding machine,” Lipman says. “We were one of the early producers of shredded scrap.” He calls buying that first shredder one of the best business decisions he ever made.
Together with Saul Gordon of L. Gordon Iron & Metal Co. (Statesville, N.C.), Lipman says he realized the advantages of bringing shredder operators together—“the working people, not the administrative people”—to share knowledge. He and Gordon formed the shredder maintenance program, which traveled around the country and “brought information and experience right into those areas where operating personnel were available.” The operators “don’t come to conventions,” he says, so the program brought the training to them. Lipman cochaired the shredder program for 30 years, first for ISIS, then for ISRI.
Embracing Change
Throughout his years leading Denbo Scrap Materials, Lipman has managed to see opportunities where others might have only seen threats. In 1988, for example, company officials learned that the CSX railroad was planning to cease operations in the Pulaski area and sell off its land, eliminating the scrap company’s primary means of delivering its product to a nearby steel mill. Together with his nephew, Don Denbo, and his administrative assistant, Dennis Prince, Lipman solved the potential problem by acquiring the rail operation, renamed Tennessee Southern Railroad. It was a significant investment and a significant victory for a small scrap company. After more than 15 years of ownership, the company sold the railroad in 2006.
Another opportunity arose in 2000, when Lipman merged Denbo Scrap Materials with Denbo Iron & Metal (Decatur and Sheffield, Ala.) and L. Miller & Son (Huntsville, Ala.) to form Tennessee Valley Recycling. The three companies all had ties to Ike Denbo, Lipman explains: Denbo Iron & Metal was founded by Ike’s son Morley, and L. Miller & Son was originally Tennessee Hide & Poultry, Ike’s first scrap company.
He turned it over to his best friend, Louis Miller, when he left to fight in World War I. (When Ike returned from war in 1922, “rather than go into competition with his good friend in Huntsville,” he moved to Pulaski, 50 miles north, Lipman explains.)
The Denbo and Miller families remained close over the years, and in 1980 Louis’ granddaughter, Sara Miller, married Ike’s grandson, Joel Denbo, TVR’s CEO and a former ReMA chair. “Little did they know when they were friends all those years ago that ultimately that would happen,” Lipman says.
The merger made the companies stronger, “able to operate more economically, able to [better] serve our industrial customers and the public, [and] to become more efficient and use more expertise to accomplish what we were doing,” Lipman says.
TVR handles all grades of scrap, but its chief products are ferrous, aluminum, copper, and stainless steel. “We buy from industrial generators, public utilities, municipal governments, steel mills, foundries, and the general public,” Lipman says. TVR operates two shredders—one in Pulaski and one in Decatur—as well as various nonferrous recovery systems, shears, balers, and other equipment. The business is thriving: “The higher prices for scrap today have impacted the flow of materials and brought out more scrap,” he says.
Regional and Industry Booster
Lipman speaks with enthusiasm about the Southeast’s growth. “If you look at the so-called corridor that has existed in this part of the country, one of the reasons [it] has prospered is because of transportation, climate, availability of labor, and such,” he says. In fact, he has played a part in making sure the rest of the country knows about the Southeast’s attributes. He chaired the city and county development commission that brought six industrial facilities to the area during his tenure. His involvement with the Tennessee Industrial Group of the Tennessee Association of Business included serving on TAB’s board and as state chairman, for which he was recognized by Gov. Don Sundquist. He currently serves on the board of Martin Methodist College in Pulaski.
As the region’s economic development expands over the next decade, so will the scrap business, he predicts. “The growth of the steel business and the automotive business [here], as well as the availability of scrap supplies in this region, show that the Southeast is moving rapidly ahead.” And the scrap industry’s long-term prospects are strong, he says. “We have proven how necessary it is for steel mills to be able to consume our product. Also, we have proven that scrap is not a waste product, and we’re an important part of the community.”
Considering his work with the state and regional business associations and with ISIS and ISRI, it’s clear that Lipman is a strong advocate of volunteering. “I have received so much from this industry that I want to give something back,” he says. You must “put yourself forward to share information with other people, to help see things [done] successfully,” he says. “If you don’t give of yourself and you don’t participate in the business [community], you have no one to blame but yourself for not knowing what’s going on. … Nobody’s going to do it for you.”
In his earlier days, Lipman held all leadership positions, including president, of the Southeastern Chapter of ISIS. In the late 1980s, he led ISRI’s Shredder Committee. A longtime ReMA fan, Lipman says the association “makes outsiders aware of the true nature of the scrap industry, how it helps the environment and how it conserves natural resources,” he says. “It is through attending chapter meetings that I was able to meet and get to know some of the top officials of this industry, as well as suppliers and consumers.” ReMA board meetings are “the heart of this industry,” he says, and they have enabled him to meet government officials to discuss legislation important to scrap processors.
“Anybody that wants to be successful in this industry needs to get involved in the workings of the industry,” he says. “By being involved, I’ve made a lot of friends and relationships. You can call on people anytime and people know who you are.”
ShipShape
When Lipman is not at work, you’ll often find him on his yacht—“I’d call it a big old boat,” he laughs. He takes the 42-foot motorcraft out on the Tennessee River every week or so.
“I’m the captain and my wife’s the first—and only—mate,” he says. He and Dede, married more than a half-century, have two children—Larry, who works in the metal recovery phase of TVR in Pulaski, and Marianne, who lives in South Carolina—and four grandchildren.
Beyond boating, the couple enjoy travel, primarily in Europe and the Caribbean—in fact, they were on their way to a Baltic Sea cruise soon after this interview. Overseas is where the action is in the scrap industry as well, Lipman says. Pointing to the rapid industrialization of Asian countries, he predicts extreme competition for raw materials in the next decade, raising prices and demand for scrap. He has great confidence in the strength of the industry.
“It is growing, expanding, and becoming more sophisticated. Its place in the American economy will be even greater in the next decade.”
Ted’s Tale
Born: July 4, 1926, in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Military Service: Served in the U.S. Army’s 9th Infantry Division from 1943 to 1946. Saw combat in Germany and earned a Purple Heart.
Education: Earned a degree in economics and business administration from Vanderbilt University in 1949.
Family: Married Dede Denbo in 1950. Two children, Marianne and Larry, and four grandchildren.
Career: After a brief stint managing a ladies’ clothing store, in 1951 Lipman began working for his father-in-law, Ike Denbo, at I. Denbo Scrap Materials. After Ike’s death in 1974 he took over the business, first in partnership with his brother-in-law Charles Denbo, then by himself. The company merged with two others in 2000 to form Tennessee Valley Recycling, where he serves as co-chairman of the members committee.
Community and Philanthropic Service: Community leadership positions include former chair of the Pulaski city and county development commission; former board member and state chairman, Tennessee Association of Business; and board member, Martin Methodist College. He is former president of ISIS’ Southeastern Chapter and co-founder and co-chair of ISIS’ shredder maintenance program (now the ReMA Operations Forum), which he led for 30 years with Saul Gordon of L. Gordon Iron & Metal Co.
Hobbies: Travel and boating.
Si Wakesberg is New York bureau chief for Scrap.