Charles J. Messenger ’61
Charles J. Messenger, Manasquan, NJ, died May 26, 2024, the College learned recently.
Born in Yonkers, NY, and raised in Glen Ridge NJ, Charles resided in Vermont and northern New Jersey before moving to Manasquan NJ, where he lived for the last 61 years.
After majoring in political science at 麻豆视频 Michael鈥檚, Chuck later earned an MBA at Seton Hall University in New Jersey in 1969. Chuck started his professional career with 3M in the New York Electrical Division. In 1967 he accepted a position with Essex Chemical Company in Clifton, NJ, as a marketing coordinator for the automotive division. By 1970 he became the general manager of international operations.
At the age of 27 he formed a three-man team who invented and sold sealant to bond windshields into automobiles to General Motors and Mazda. The product became a motor vehicle safety standard. As his career advanced, he consulted and then formed a partnership with Monsey Products Company known as MMI Inc. Together they formulated and sold the first synthetic surface, Decoturf, to the United Stated Tennis Association, utilizing it then on all the tennis courts at the U.S. Open Facility in Flushing, NY.
He went on to become the president and owner of Intertec International, an international marketing and sales firm in Middletown that he still runs to this day. Throughout his illustrious career Charles traveled all seven continents with the exception of Antarctica.
Chuck was a member of the Manasquan River Yacht Club and the Spring Lake Golf Club. He was a member of the Rotary Club in Wall. He enjoyed the outdoors and conquered climbing a mountain in the Swiss Alps. He was a President鈥檚 Medallion supporter of the College.
His wife, Carolyn 鈥淐ay鈥 Messenger, died in 1997. He is survived by a son, three daughters (including Kimberly Scangarella who attended the College briefly in 1978) and extended family, including grandson Kenneth Bopf 鈥04.