In 1982, John Del Vecchio joined the Met-Coil Systems Corporation’s Board of Directors to help navigate impending litigation facing the machinery brand’s daughter companies, Iowa Precision and Lockformer.      

Like a peanut butter cup from Reese’s or corned beef and cabbage, Mestek Machinery’s introduction four years ago of a machine that combined two major ductwork fabrication functions was a natural, company officials say.

Around 1940, Teresa Wahl of Wilmington, Delaware, was quietly taking on odd jobs — laundry, housekeeping and cleaning — without her husband’s knowledge.