Melvin Woods of Canton was killed in a freak accident when a half-ton steel door slid off its hinges and fell on him on Thursday. Woods and other workers were cleaning out a storage bin in the facility's melt shop at the time the accident occurred.
John Willoughby, vice president for human resources for the company said the melt shop is where scrap steel is melted in an electric arc furnace.
Woods, who became a grandfather for the first time this month, is survived by his wife and three children.
With 2001 sales of approximately $1 billion, Republic was included in Forbes' 2001 and 2000 lists of the largest U.S. private companies. Republic has plants in Canton, Massillon, and Lorain, Ohio; Beaver
Falls, Pa.; Chicago and Harvey, Ill.; Gary, Ind.; Lackawanna, N.Y.; and Hamilton, Ont. The company manufactures steel bars, and like many companies in the steel industry, 2001-2002 were difficult years for the company. It announced on July 11 that a bankruptcy court judge approved the acquisition of substantially all of its assets by RT Acquisition LLC, a move management hopes will keep the company in operation.