Ting Tsung "T.T." Chao (1921 – March 7, 2008) was a

Taiwanese-American Taiwanese Americans ( Chinese: 臺灣裔美國人; pinyin: ''Táiwān yì měiguó rén''; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ''Tâi-Bí-jîn'') are Americans of Taiwanese ancestry, including American-born descendants of migrants from the Republic of China (Taiwan) ...

engineer. He was a pioneer in international petrochemical and plastics industries in Asia and North America.

History

Chao was born in

Suzhou Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

, China. Chao graduated from Shanghai University with a degree in Industrial Management and began a career in the railroad industry. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Chao relocated to Taiwan and created the first

polyvinyl chloride Polyvinyl chloride (alternatively: poly(vinyl chloride), colloquial: vinyl or polyvinyl; abbreviated: PVC) is the world's third-most widely produced synthetic polymer of plastic (after polyethylene and polypropylene). About 40 million tons of ...

(PVC) plant. The plant began production in 1957 and assisted in Taiwan's economic development. In 1964, Chao formed The Chao Group, a privately held petrochemical and plastics manufacturing conglomerate which worked with various multinational corporations including

Gulf Oil Corporation Gulf Oil was a major global oil company in operation from 1901 to 1985. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the Seven Sisters oil companies. Prior to its merger with Stan ...

Mobil Oil Corporation Mobil Oil Corporation, now known as just Mobil, is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil, formerly known as Exxon, which took its current name after it and Mobil merged in 1999. A direct descenda ...

Sumitomo Corporation is one of the largest worldwide '' sōgō shōsha'' general trading companies, and is a diversified corporation. The company was incorporated in 1919 and is a member company of the Sumitomo Group. It is listed on three Japanese stock exchange ...

and others. Chao's joint venture with Mattel in 1966 produced the first Barbie dolls. Chao later formed Westlake Chemical Corporation in 1986 in Texas, Titans Chemical Corporation in 1988, which was the first and largest petrochemical company in Malaysia, and Suzhou Huasu Plastics Co. Ltd in 1992. His son, James Y. Chao, is currently chairman of Westlake Chemical. His second son, Albert Chao, is president and CEO. In 2005, Chao received the

Petrochemical Heritage Award The Petrochemical Heritage Award was established in 1997, "to recognize individuals who made outstanding contributions to the petrochemical community." The award is intended to inspire achievement and to promote public understanding. The award w ...

. Chao was inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame in 2011.

Family

As of 2015, his family was ranked 39th in America's richest families with an estimated net worth of $7.2 billion. The family was ranked 4th richest family in Texas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chao, Ting Tsung 1921 births 2008 deaths Businesspeople from Suzhou Chinese emigrants to Taiwan