Benstock Earns ARTA Appreciation Award
(l/r) Jerry Benstock received an award from ARTA for his stalwart efforts to promote reusable textiles. Fashion Seal colleague Scott Delin stands at right.
Gerald (Jerry) Benstock, chairman emeritus of Superior Uniform Co. and Fashion Seal Healthcare, recently was named by the Association of Reusable Textiles (ARTA) as the winner of the pro-reusable textile group’s annual award, based on his role as a founding supporter and friend of ARTA.
Benstock was pivotal in ARTA’s formation inasmuch as he provided Superior colleague Nate Belkin with the support and time he needed to organize an effort to promote the use of reusable healthcare textiles as an environmentally and financially sustainable alternative to the use of disposable goods. Belkin founded ARTA in 1982, while working for Fashion Seal Healthcare. He passed away in 2010.
Benstock joined Superior Uniform Group in 1951,shortly after graduating from New York University College of Engineering. He worked as a plant engineer and floor manager before being tasked with designing and supervising the construction of a new corporate headquarters, a sewing factory and warehouse in Huntington, NY. By the end of the 1960s, Superior Uniform Group had 12 manufacturing plants in the Deep South and a major warehouse and distribution center in Arkansas.
The company filed its first public offering of more than $10 million in 1968. Today, Superior’s revenues exceed $250 million. As chairman emeritus, Benstock remains an active consultant to the company, still working five days a week and enjoying the success of his family members. In addition to his work on ARTA, Benstock was also long active in TRSA.
In another recognition unveiled during the June 6 breakfast held off the Clean Show floor, ARTA also announced the inaugural edition of a new biennial award named for Belkin. This award went to Lac-Mac Ltd. of London, Ontario, a company specializing in liquid-proof, breathable PPE products. The new award is designed to recognize a company that best exemplifies ARTA’s mission of promoting reusable textiles in operating rooms and other healthcare venues.