Longtime Finch Paper Chairman Richard J. Carota Dies at 73

In 1970, at age 32, he became one of the youngest paper mill plant managers in the United States. In this capacity, he oversaw the implementation of Finch, Pruyn's innovative ammonium bisulfite pulping process. Most American paper mills use a kraft pulping process, but Finch, Pruyn's owners, sensitive to the mill's proximity to homes and businesses in Downtown Glens Falls, chose sulfite in the late 1960s to avoid the unpleasant odors often associated with kraft mills. Finch, Pruyn turned to its corporate neighbor, Kamyr Inc., to develop a one-of-a-kind continuous digesting process in which both hardwoods and softwoods would be pulped together. The goal was to provide pulp for high-strength, high-brightness premium papers, but the innovative process was plagued with serious operational problems. Months went by without the sulfite process actually producing pulp suitable for making paper.