115 Years, Three Johns, One Industry

Some legacies in the steel world are measured in tonnage and tariffs — but the Curley family's legacy is measured in generations. On March 11, 2026, John M. Curley III, Vice President of Sales at Sandmeyer Steel Company in Philadelphia, retired exactly 41 years to the day from when he first walked through the door in 1985. His departure closed the final chapter on a family name that had been woven into the stainless steel industry since 1910, when his grandfather John M. Curley Sr. began working for Jessop Steel Company. John Sr. went on to found his own distribution business in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1924, and later acquired a steel mill in Baltimore that became Eastern Stainless. His son, John Jr., ran Eastern Stainless as president for 14 years before retiring in 1977. John III then carried the torch, spending 50 years total in the industry, eventually rising to oversee all of Sandmeyer's domestic and international sales. He was promoted to Vice President in 2011 and spent his final years steering customer relationships that, in some cases, had been built by his grandfather. Ron Sandmeyer Jr., the company's president, noted that John's industry knowledge and commitment to customers left a mark that simply won't be easy to replicate. The steel industry is full of big corporate names and billion-dollar moves, but stories like this — three men, one name, 115 years — are becoming increasingly rare.