John R. Oishei

John R. Oishei (January 18, 1886 – January 27, 1968) was a businessman who founded Trico products and became one of Buffalo’s wealthiest citizens and philanthropists.

Early life John R. Oishei was born in Buffalo in 1886 to Charles Humbert Oishei and Julia (Roffo) Oishei. Oishei's grandfather, Giuseppe "Joseph" Oishei, immigrated to the United States from Lombardy, Italy in 1859. By 1868, Joseph owned a saloon on Buffalo's Prime Street and by 1861, owned another saloon and restaurant on Ohio Street in Buffalo. Joseph married Adelheide Von Wildt and had three children: Charles (John's father), Aurelia and Amelia. At the time of Joseph's death in 1878, he owned the Golden Gate Hotel at 160 Exchange Street in Buffalo. Charles, aged 19, took over responsibility for the family for his deceased father and by 1890, graduated from Buffalo Law School and set up a law practice.

Career In 1916, Oishei was traveling down Delaware Avenue near Virginia Street in downtown Buffalo during a rainstorm. A bicyclist ran into the National Roadster he was driving at the time. Oishei never saw him coming, and even though the cyclist was not seriously injured, Oishei vowed to never let that happen again. He sought out the best technology available at the time to create the first automobile wiper blades and grew the idea from a simple fix to worldwide use. In 1917, John R. Oishei founded Trico Products Corporation He looked around for a way to clear moisture from a driver's line of vision, and decided to invest in the national marketing of an edged, hand-pulled rubber squeegee that was produced in Buffalo by an engineer named John Jepson. Within three years, Oishei's sales team had successfully sold the accessory to Packard, Lincoln, Cadillac and Buffalo's own Pierce-Arrow.

Buyout of Jepson Through those sales, Oishei raised enough capital to buy out Jepson in 1919 and when World War I ended, he expanded availability of the product to Europe and beyond. Although maintaining cash flow to service early loans made Trico's initial survival a dicey proposition, its success was assured following the immediate post-World War I automotive boom. Early on, most Trico sales were the easily refitted squeegee that fit in the slot of two-piece windshields. For one-piece glass, Trico offered a spring-loaded arcing wiper that was operated by hand and pivoted across the field of vision. Although Trico did not invent the wiper motor, it did come up with a reliable unit run by an engine's manifold vacuum that quickly became the industry standard, especially in the aftermarket. Cadillac was the first to make these powered wipers standard. In 1934, that refillable wiper was redesigned to fit the new curved windshields, complete with internal springs to ensure constant pressure across the glass. Two years later, Trico introduced a powered windshield washer. In 1937, its wipers were standard across the entire U.S. auto industry.

Trico eventually became one of the world's leading manufacturers of automotive windshield wiping equipment. This includes a $10 million donation to develop the now-renamed John R. Oishei Children's Hospital.