War Experience Shaped Officer Into 'Father' Of Military Packaging

Herbert M. Lapidus, 94, who became one of the first experts in military packaging after discovering a severe shortage of toilet paper when his military transport ship arrived in Australia at the start of World War II, died of multiple organ failure Aug. 29 at his home in Boca Raton, Fla. He lived in Arlington County from 1952 to 1998.

Mr. Lapidus, a newly minted Army second lieutenant, sailed to Australia in 1942 aboard the SS Mariposa, a luxury liner repurposed to carry 3,000 troops across the Pacific a month after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Upon arrival in Australia, he discovered that the military toilet paper had been ruined in transit, a not uncommon occurrence in the days before plastic wrap. The ensuing shortage of the essential personal hygiene material convinced him of the importance of proper packing and shipping.

This notion was also occurring to other military officers around the world as the wooden shipping crates arrived in war zones with broken slats, damaged goods and inadequately protected contents for the wet, dusty or windy conditions.

Mr. Lapidus served the rest of the war in the China-Burma-India theater, arranging logistical support for bombers fighting the Japanese in Burma. He graduated from the Army Command and General Staff College in 1945 and transferred to the Air Force Reserve in 1947, eventually commanding the reserve squadron at Bolling Air Force Base from the late 1950s through the late 1960s.

After his discharge from active duty, Mr. Lapidus became a civilian employee of the Navy. As the Navy's senior packaging engineer, he supervised the design and implementation of packaging items at sea and at bases, including everything from lettuce to Polaris missiles. He was one of the founders of the National Institute of Packaging, Handling and Logistics Engineers and was elected to its Packaging Hall of Fame. He was known there as "the father of military packaging," said Richard Owen, executive director of the group.

"Herb was one of the main icons of the industry," Owen said. "He wrote regulations, he enforced regulations and he taught industry how to comply with the regulations." An annual award for the best package design is named for Mr. Lapidus, and Owen said the organization will name its school, based near Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport, for him.

After World War II, the military and academic worlds recognized the need for better education and research into shipping and packaging, and Mr. Lapidus participated in discussions that resulted in the first academic program in packaging engineering at Michigan State University, said Paul Peoples, a retired Air Force colonel who is also an adjunct professor there.

"He played a key role in the development of professional packaging education," Peoples said. "You could also call him the father of Mil-P-116, the military specification that described all the methods of preserving items."

Herbert Maurice Lapidus was born in Pittsburgh and worked as a teenager in his uncle's mattress factory. Mr. Lapidus retired in 1972 and became a consultant to industry and wrote articles on military packaging for professional journals. Among his military decorations was the Bronze Star Medal.

His wife of 51 years, Rose Friedlander Lapidus, died in 1992.

Survivors include three sons, Lawrence S. Lapidus of Washington, Robert D. Lapidus of Great Falls and Mark L. Lapidus of Fairfax County; and eight grandchildren.