Oral history interview with James L. Waters

2023-01-10T15:33:14-05:00

James L. Waters begins his interview by discussing his family history and the emigration of his ancestors from England to Massachusetts in 1638. Waters was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1925, where his father, Leland L. Waters, worked at the family insurance business. Waters describes himself as an independent child, who preferred to do things on his own without the help of his parents, something he feels was critical in his success as a businessman. As a youth, Waters participated in little league football and maintained a paper route, a job that enabled him to gain a sense of independence. During Waters' junior year of high school, his father was offered a position as the treasurer of the B&W Bus Line, an opportunity that took the Waters family to Framingham, Massachusetts. Waters graduated from Framingham High School in 1943 and enrolled at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he became a member of the Navy's V-12 program for engineering. Waters was sent to Columbia University to continue his studies as a physics major at the end of his second term. He was then discharged from the Navy and entered the University of Nebraska. In 1947, Waters accepted a position as project manager's assistant at Baird Associates Inc. and was soon promoted to project manager, working as an assembler and service man on various instrumentation. Waters, however, felt unfulfilled, and after a short while, decided the time was right to start his own instrumentation company. At the age of twenty-two, Waters founded James L. Waters, Inc., working from his parents' basement. At the same time, Waters met Faith Pigors, whom he married in 1948. In spite of his lack of experience and naiveté in business, Waters' sheer determination to succeed enabled him to overcome the many obstacles that occurred while working on his first instrument, an infrared gas analyzer. Waters sold James L. Waters, Inc., to Mine Safety Appliances Company in 1955, but continued his work on instrumentation in a contract capacity with Mine Safety. Waters founded Waters Associates, Inc., in 1958, and shortly afterwards began to delve into the field of gel permeation chromatography (GPC). As Waters Associates' GPC instruments evolved, the company experienced phenomenal growth and in eight years managed to double its profits, many times over. The business began to decline due to R&D problems, so Waters Associates merged with Millipore Inc. in 1977. After conflicts with the Waters Associates board, Waters left the company to become the director of Millipore and, finally, a venture capitalist. Waters concludes the interview with a discussion of his wife and children and their careers.