Who founded Owens Corning?

Owens Corning was founded in 1938 as a corporate joint venture rather than by a single individual founder, formed by two major glass companies. The founding companies were Owens-Illinois Glass Company based in Toledo, Ohio, which was founded by Michael J. Owens who invented the automatic bottle blowing machine in 1903, and Corning Glass Works based in Corning, New York, founded by Amory Houghton in 1851. In the mid-1930s, researchers at both companies were independently developing fiberglass, and after patent disputes, they agreed to combine their efforts. The joint venture was officially incorporated on November 1, 1938 as Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation, with ownership split 50-50. Key executives who orchestrated the founding were William E. le Visser from Owens-Illinois and Amory Houghton and Eugene Sullivan from Corning Glass Works, with Harold Boeschenstein becoming its first president. The company built its first plant in Newark, Ohio to make fiberglass insulation and later expanded rapidly during World War II. While Michael Owens and Amory Houghton are considered ancestral founders through their original companies, Owens Corning itself was a corporate creation. It became a publicly traded independent company and is now headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, known for inventing fiberglass insulation and its PINK brand.