COLUMBIA, TN - Louis A. Ruckgaber Jr., chairman and president of Egyptian Lacquer Manufacturing Co. Inc. and a longtime chairman and member of the National Paint & Coatings Association's Management Information Committee, died Sept. 24 in Columbia, TN, following a battle with cancer. He was 73.

Mr. Ruckgaber, who held a series of positions during a career of more than 50 years with Egyptian Lacquer, was recognized by the NPCA in 1992 with the association's highest honor, the George Baugh Heckel Award. The NPCA said that as chairman of the Management Information Committee, Mr. Ruckgaber "was largely responsible for the quality and value of the U.S. Paint Industry Data Base" and the NPCA's monthly sales index. He was honored posthumously at the NPCA's recent Annual Meeting with the presentation of the Industry Statesman Award.

Mr. Ruckgaber earned a bachelor's degree from Yale University and attended Harvard Business School, and served in the Navy during the Korean War. He joined Egyptian Lacquer, headed by his father, Louis A. Ruckgaber Sr., in the early 1950s as a salesman.