William "Bill" S. McCormick Widely was an expert in feedscrew design, and held several patents while employed at NRM Corp. as Director of Research and Development. Bill was a pioneer in the process of both the open and closed cell foamed styrene extrusion process and received the Jack Barney award for his unique contributions in this area.

McCormick was a major contributor to the extrusion of plastics and elastomers during his many years at NRM Corporation. His knowledge of fluid heat transfer led him to develop the wiped surface heat exchanger, which is fundamental to successful polystyrene foam sheet production.

He worked to establish a measure of extrudate quality through the use of statistics. His innovations in the use of SPC to the continuous extrusion process were the foundation in which most extrusion quality control is based today.

Upon his retirement from NRM, Bill was in constant demand as a consultant, primarily in the extrusion arena where he specialized in feedscrew, die design, while giving seminars on “Statistical Process Control”.

McCormick served several years as a member of the Extrusion Division Board of Directors with the highest respect from his peers.

Mccormick made many contributions to the plastics industry, primarily “behind the scene” by teaching and lecturing at the University of Akron Polymer Training Center. He was interested in the field of Plastics Education in both the academic and blue collar fields. He was a major contributor to the polymer program at Akron University. He was an active participant in the PIA educational seminars and after retirement he continued to actively participate in the local Akron Section and received the William Zekan (A. Schulman Co.) award. He was elected to the SPE Hall of Honor where his portrait is located at the University of Akron Polymer Lobby.