History of Locks - Baldwin

Continuing with our series about lock companies and their history's, we present the history of the founding of America's foremost lock and door hardware company, Baldwin.

Baldwin products are often considered at the higher price range of hardware products, but for good reason. Most Baldwin products are warrantied for life.

Severin Fayerman, Baldwin Hardware’s Founder, Tells his “Story”

-Fayerman records “a day in the life” of being a prisoner during WWII

Reading, PA – Severin Fayerman, founder of Baldwin Hardware, recorded his story for

StoryCorps on September 19, 2008. Since 2003, the independent nonprofit oral history project,

called StoryCorps, has focused on “honoring and celebrating one another’s lives through listening.”

Across the country, tens of thousands have told their stories. Each of which will be archived at the Library of Congress, with a selection also being made available on public radio and the Internet.

Fayerman, who was born in Poland, began his story with a retelling of his experience as a prisoner held in several concentration camps during World War II. In the recording, he speaks of a typical day spent at Auschwitz.

Soon after immigrating to the US with his family in 1945, Fayerman began working at a tool and die shop in lower Manhattan. With aspirations toward owning their own business, he and his father began a search for companies for sale and negotiated the purchase of Baldwin Tool and Die Company, based in Newark, New Jersey.

As a result, in January 1946, Fayerman and his father co-founded what was to become Baldwin Hardware only one year after arriving in the US. Fayerman held an active, daily role in company leadership until the sale of the company to Masco Corporation in 1982, after which he assumed the position of honorary Chairman Emeritus, acting as advisor to Baldwin executives and serving as a key instructor at Baldwin University. The company celebrated Fayerman’s official retirement from Baldwin Hardware in June 2008.

Fayerman has chronicled his personal history in a short memoir called, A Survivor’s Story. He now resides in Reading, Pennsylvania and has been traveling since the start of his official retirement date.

Baldwin Hardware manufactures an extensive family of superior architectural and decorative products for the home in a variety of finishes, including its proprietary Lifetime Finish.

Baldwin Hardware products signify quality and innovation, with offerings that include hardware and locksets and exterior lighting, as well as bath and cabinetry accessories. All portfolios are available in a rich variety of finishes and textures.

The Reading, PA based company with more than 60 years of heritage, is part of the Black & Decker Hardware & Home Improvement Group, headquartered in Lake Forest, CA.

Black & Decker also own Kwikset Lock Co.

Profile of Severin Fayerman