Bright Ideas
Insights, Spring ’05

“If you’re creative enough, and have a desire to do something, you can make it.” - Robert “Bob” Kolonia ’59

In 1975, Kolonia invented a better axe, an idea that came to him one day while chopping wood in his back yard. At its peak, his company produced and sold more than 2,000 Chopper1 Axes every day. Distribution was handled through major retailers such as Sears, J.C.Penney, and K-Mart. He and his wife Joan sold the business in 1989, and later repurchased the rights to sell it online.

Today, Kolonia (back row, second from left) and family members own or operate: a golf course (Sweet Water Golf Course and Driving Range in Pennsburg, Penn.); plastic injection mold companies (Micro Molding, Inc., and MedConnection LLC); and a design firm (Cadability LLC) in Phillipsburg, N.J. Bob still holds 14 patents.