Creative Bath Products founder Mat Meinzinger passes

HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 11/2/2010 3:23:13 PM

Upper Brookville, NY - Mathias "Mat" Meinzinger, president, ceo and founder of longtime bath coordinates and housewares manufacturer Creative Bath Products, died Oct. 31 after a 10-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

He was 74.

Originally from Hungary, Meinzinger moved to the U.S. in 1956. In 1973, he and his business partner, Guenther Bartsch, opened Creative Bath Products with only $10,000.00 and two employees.

On the company's website, Meinzinger is quoted as having said that in the company's first year, "sales were only $40,000, and I wondered if I would survive."

Today the company, which is headquartered in Central Islip, NY, in a 750,000-square-foot facility, has a staff of 500 and generated $53 million in bath accessory sales and $32 million in shower curtain sales in 2009, ranking it in the second and fourth largest supplier in those categories, respectively, in the U.S. home textiles industry.

In his free time, Meinzinger enjoyed breeding and racing horses, and was an avid tennis player.

"Mat lived a remarkable and fulfilling life and will remain an inspiration to all who had the privilege to know him," said Bob Weiss, who was recently named president of the company. "Mat brightened our lives, a man whose goodness, generosity and kindness will stay in our hearts and minds forever. He never, ever took anything for granted and always tried, as he put it, to ‘do the right thing.'"

Meinzinger is survived by his wife of 52 years, Christa; his brother Joseph; sisters Theresa Baumann and Veronica Penka; and many nieces and nephews.

Services will be held today at Vernon C. Wagner Funeral Home, 125 Old Country Road, in Hicksville, NY. Viewing hours are from 2 to 5 p.m. and again from 7 to 9 p.m.

The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Nov. 3 at St. Charles Cemetery on Conklin Avenue in Farmingdale, NY.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Lustgarden Foundation for the research of Pancreatic Cancer, 1111 Stewart Avenue, Bethpage, NY 11714.