Profile

W. R. Grace and Company is an American chemical business based in Columbia, Maryland. It produces specialty chemicals and specialty materials in two divisions: Grace Catalysts Technologies and Grace Materials and Chemicals. For much of its early history, Grace's main business was in South America, in maritime shipping, railroads, agriculture, and silver mining, with 30,000 employees in Peru. In the 1950s, Grace began to diversify and grew into a Fortune 100 worldwide conglomerate. After emerging from a prolonged bankruptcy period of 12 years in 2014, the company spun off its other major operating divisions, marking the end of the global Grace empire. As of December, 2017, it had 3,700 employees, with 1,900 in the United States and the balance in Europe and Asia. In 2017, the annual sales were US $ 1.72 billion. W. R. Grace and Company was founded in 1854 in Peru, by William Russell Grace, who left Ireland during the Great Famine, and traveled to South America with his family. He went first to Peru to work as a ship's chandler for the firm of Bryce and Company, to the merchantmen harvesting guano, used as a fertilizer and gunpowder ingredient due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen.