We all have a history with the iconic red Solo cup.
If you’re a college student, you’ve drank from one. If you’re ever been to a bbq, you’ve drank from one. If you’ve ever had a picnic or danced too hard an office holiday party, you’ve drank from one. And of course you have—they’re one of the most useful receptacles invented for the modern world.
It’s a sad, sad day that we now face the death of a man who is responsible for countless parties across the world, Robert Leo Hulseman. The inventor of the famous red Solo cup passed away last week at the age of 84, after decades of hard work at the family business: The Solo Cup Company.
That’s right, Hulseman started working for his dad at the age of 18, and worked his way up to CEO in 1980, succeeding his father and going on to build The Solo Cup Company into the giant that it is today. But it can be argued that his best work was actually accomplished sometime in the 70s when Hulseman came up with a brilliant idea that became the one and only red Solo cup.
Fraternity brothers aren’t the only people shedding a tear for the man who gave us all something cheap and festive to drink out of, to play flip cup and beer pong with, to eat pasta out of as a last resort…
Eco-friendly they may not be, but beloved they will always remain. Cheers, Robert.