Stephen Howard Aidlin

Stephen H. Aidlin died on July 1, 2020 at his home in Sarasota, Florida, surrounded by family and friends.

Memorial ceremonies will be private, and in lieu of flowers, memorial gifts can be directed to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital or the Sarasota Orchestra.

Stephen Aidlin was born in the Fall of 1940 to Samuel and Ruth Aidlin in Brooklyn, New York, later moving to Long Island, then Sarasota, FL in 1979. Aidlin studied Mechanical Engineering at City College of New York (CCNY) and earned his Masters of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from the prestigious Harvard Business School in 1964.

Recruited directly from Harvard, Stephen joined the Scovill Manufacturing Corp, but true to his entrepreneurial spirit he left the major corporation to take over operations of father’s small engineering company, Aidlin Automation. Mr. Aidlin grew the company to become a significant contributor of engineering and manufacturing expertise to the packaging industry, specializing in the food and beverage, medical, and industrial sectors. Of note was Mr. Aidlin’s successful design, development, and launch of the plastic bottle base-cupper, developed specifically in support of the introduction of the first plastic beverage bottles by Coca-Cola in 1977. Later, Aidlin’s Air-Trans conveyor and mechanical systems would cover many miles of production lines in Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Merck, and Duracell manufacturing facilities and the early use of robotic systems in the packaging industry.

In 1979, Stephen moved Aidlin Automation from their location in New York to Bradenton, Florida where it continued steady growth, eventually employing over 175 employees and generating revenues over $20 million per year. In 1997, Mr. Aidlin sold the company which later was acquired by Tetra-Pak, the world’s largest packaging machine and materials firm (think juice-boxes and similar.)

After divorce from his first wife, Stephen met Kay Mackey, who he would marry in 1986, and with whom he would travel the world and experience all life had to offer.

After retirement, Stephen loved traveling the world, beautiful wines, telling jokes, and spending time with his family. Stephen also focused on mentorship of young businessmen and businesswomen; and was an active member of the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital Guild, Junior Achievement, the Sarasota Ballet and Sarasota Orchestra.

Mr. Aidlin is survived by his beautiful and loving wife, Kay; son, Timothy Aidlin; daughter, Alison Aidlin Stottlemyer; step-son, Marc Mackey; and three smart, incredibly lovely granddaughters.