Ed Lowe
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- For the newspaper columnist, see Ed Lowe (journalist)
Edward Lowe (July 10, 1920 - October 4, 1995) invented cat litter.
He was born on July 10, 1920 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was in the Navy from 1941 to 1945. After he left the Navy, he worked for his father who sold industrial absorbents. Before his invention, people kept their cats outside, using ashes, dirt or sand as cat litter when it was necessary to keep them inside. One day in January 1947 Edward Lowe’s neighbor in Cassopolis, Michigan, Kay Draper, came to him, asking for some sand to use as cat litter. Her sand pile was frozen so she had been using ashes but they tracked all over her house. Instead of sand, Lowe gave her some absorbent clay called Fuller’s Earth. She loved it.
[edit] His career
In 1947, Low decided to sell the clay. He packaged it in 5 lb bags and called it ‘Kitty Litter.’ Then he went to a local pet store and asked them to sell it for 65 cents. The store owner refused, saying that it would not sell because sand was so much cheaper. Lowe told him to give it away free until people were willing to pay for it. 'Kitty Litter' was a success. Lowe drove around the country selling 'Kitty Litter'. He even cleaned boxes at cat shows so he could get a booth to demonstrate his product. He founded the Edward Lowe Industries and created ‘Tidy Cat’ kitty litter in 1964. In the early 1980’s he almost lost his market to Clorox but by 1990 Edward Lowe Industries was the top producer of cat litter.
[edit] Later Years and Death
In 1988, Low got inducted into the Babson College Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs. He also started an academy to teach entrepreneurial skills in 1990. Lowe died on October 4, 1995 in Sarasota, Florida at age 75 from “complications from surgery for cerebral hemorrhage.”
