Louis W. Schatz was the retired president and owner of General Plastics Manufacturing Company of Tacoma, Wash., which he founded in 1941. He earned his bachelor's degree in forestry from Penn State in 1934, and a master's degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Under Schatz's leadership, General Plastics Manufacturing has been cited by industry and governmental agencies for its contributions to the NASA space shuttle and Navy Polaris, Poseidon and Trident submarine programs. Before starting the company, he worked as a land appraiser for the U.S. Forest Service in Texas; as a USDA forester in Minnesota; and as an executive assistant with West Fork Timber Co. in Washington, where he obtained a professional logging engineer license.

In addition to his generous donations to Cal Poly Humboldt, Louis W. Schatz has been a benefactor to other Universities and institutions. His funding has promoted many projects, which are currently working on making the world a better place, through both technology, and the environment. Dr. Schatz passed away in 2001 at the age of 89.