Hypertherm Associates celebrates the life and legacy of Bob Dean, co-founder

Hypertherm Associates, a U.S. based manufacturer of industrial cutting systems and software, celebrates the life and legacy of Bob Dean, co-founder of Hypertherm, who passed away Saturday, January 7, at the age of 94.

Before Hypertherm’s founding, Bob was one of the founders of Creare, an engineering contract consulting firm based in Hanover, NH, in 1961, and served as its President from 1961-1976. Bob was professor and mentor to Dick Couch, eventual co-founder and long-time CEO and board chair of Hypertherm, at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth and brought Dick into Creare after Dick’s graduation. In 1968, Dick and Bob founded Hypertherm as a company incorporated within Creare, in a two-car garage on the Creare campus. The purpose was to develop and commercialize the water-injection plasma-arc cutting technology they invented together—Hypertherm’s first patent. Bob served as the first president and board chair, and Dick was the general manager. In 1971, Dick purchased the majority interest in Hypertherm from Creare, and took on the CEO role, with Bob serving on the board of directors until 1997. Bob also remained an active collaborator with Dick and the wider engineering community at Hypertherm and is a named inventor on seven of Hypertherm’s U.S. patents.

“Bob Dean was a mentor to me and always had interest in what we were working on at Hypertherm,” said Dick Couch.

Beyond Hypertherm, Bob was a prolific inventor and entrepreneur, with a founding role in a number of technology companies in the Upper Valley and beyond, while also remaining active, prominent and esteemed in higher education circles in engineering, including the Thayer School and his alma mater, MIT. He was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering in recognition of his body of engineering work and significant lifetime contributions to the field.

We celebrate Bob’s life and all that he has meant to Hypertherm Associates and our wider community. A full obituary was posted through the Valley News.

Hypertherm Associates is a U.S. based manufacturer of industrial cutting products and software. Its products, including Hypertherm plasma and OMAX waterjet systems, are used by companies around the world to build ships, airplanes, and railcars; construct steel buildings, fabricate heavy equipment, erect wind turbines, and more. In addition to cutting systems, the company creates CNCs and software trusted for performance and reliability that result in increased productivity and profitability for hundreds of thousands of businesses. Founded in 1968, Hypertherm Associates is a 100 percent Associate-owned company, employing approximately 2,000 Associates, with operations and partner representation worldwide. Learn more at www.HyperthermAssociates.com.