It was a little more than eight decades ago that a man named George Blaisdell happened to witness a friend attempt to light a lady’s cigarette on a windy day, and fail miserably. It was from this encounter that Blaisdell had the brilliant idea to create a windproof lighter.

Today Blaisdell’s grandson George Duke is the current owner of Zippo Manufacturing Co., and on Saturday the company celebrated its 90th anniversary.

Speaking about the emotions behind his family’s business celebrating such a monumental anniversary, Duke stated, “There are a lot of different emotions. I came on board 45 years ago and when I think back on how much has changed during my time — it’s truly remarkable. There have been enormous changes at Zippo during my time.”

Duke especially wanted to extend an enormous thank you to the thousands of employees that have worked for Zippo over the past 90 years.

“Some families have had three generations of folks who have worked for the company — which has been such an incredible honor. Although this incredible event is an honor for me, it also is a testament and honor for our dedicated employees throughout the years. In some cases, our employees gave their entire working lives to Zippo. Without our employees we would be nothing,” stated Duke.

Duke continued with an additional message to the company’s employees:

“Last year, in our 89th year, Zippo had the very best year in the entire history of the company — which is really quite something to achieve and for the employees to be proud of.”

Although smoking is on a great decline around the globe, Zippo has realized the importance of focusing on diversifying the product line.

“We see a bright future and product diversification will play a key and central role, as the company grows in the future,” stated Duke and his executive team.

“There are a lot of things going on in the research and development department, a lot of irons in the fire. We see many of these things coming to fruition to become key to future growth.”

Duke has no qualms or worries about the company reaching their projected future goals, citing his staff as the main reason.

“We have an incredibly talented group of individuals here — the strongest team I’ve ever seen in the company, who possess very special talents. Their talent and dedication will help us reach our goals. The future looks very bright and very exciting,” Duke stated.

“I look forward to being around for the 100th anniversary,” Duke said in conclusion.