(Radio Iowa) – A late entrepreneur from north-central Iowa who’s credited with launching two businesses that became global powerhouses will be honored next week in the town of Garner. Garner Mayor Tim Schmidt is proclaiming next Monday as Francis Zrostlik Day. The mayor says Zrostlik was a pioneer who was instrumental in the growth and development of that city and most of the surrounding towns in Hancock County.

Zrostlik family receiving the proclamation from the city of Garner. Pictured from left to right: Garner City Administrator Jim Collins, Members of the Zrostlik family (Dave Zrostlik, Barbara Zrostlik-Beyer, Susan Zrostlik Firsching), Garner Mayor Tim Schmidt. (Photo courtesy Macy Fuller w/Performance Mktg.)

In 1961, Zrostlik founded the Iowa Mold Tooling Company which initially retreaded tires and expanded into making tire service truck bodies. He also founded Stellar Industries in 1990, which makes a fleet of mechanic and service trucks, and was the first company in the U-S to make hydraulic hooklift loaders.

Dave Zrostlik, son of Francis and current president of Stellar.

Schmidt says Stellar now has more than 800 employees and it’s made Garner the tire truck capital of the world. Zrostlik’s birthday was August 14th. He died in 2000 at age 65.