PERSONAL FILE

sb Of all the cries of "monopoly" aroused by the attempt of Britain's mighty Imperial Chemical Industries to swallow fibermaking Courtaulds Ltd. (TIME, Jan. 26), the loudest have come from mild-mannered Avison Wormald, 49, managing director of Fisons Ltd. another multimillion-dollar British chemical company. A onetime boarding school teacher who sparked Fisons to much-needed modernization and expansion. Wormald accused I.C.I, of wanting "to obtain complete control of the manmade fiber industry in this country in order to participate in a European fibers cartel," predicted that if the merger went through, "every important chemical company in Britain will ultimately succumb." Last week, Fisons' board accepted Wormald's month-old offer to resign. The split, insisted all hands, was in no way influenced by a demand from I.C.I, that Fisons disavow "Mr. Wormald's views."

sb As he moved into the office left vacant last month by the death of J. Spencer Love, Burlington Industries' candid new President Charles F. Myers, 50, made it plain that the era of one-man rule had ended for the world's largest textile empire (1961 sales: $866 million). Says Myers in a rich Charleston accent: "No one will take the load that Mr. Love took. Management from now on will be a team operation." Lured away from a banking career during a series of tennis games with Love 15 years ago. Myers started off at Burlington as a financial man, soon headed Burlington International. His overseas experience made him a natural for the top job at Burlington, which is trying to counter foreign competition with an international expansion program.

sb After failing six years ago in an all-out proxy fight to take over the Seiberling Rubber Co. Toledo Industrialist Edward Lamb, 59, kept at it, and proclaimed last week that he now owns 51% of the sagging Akron tiremaker's stock. His enterprises already include 25 companies ranging from radio and TV stations to a factory that produces sugar cane harvesting equipment. Lamb, the scrappy son of a commercial fisherman, worked his way through Dartmouth (24) to become a highly successful lawyer whose practice included both corporations and labor unions. At Seiberling, Lamb plans to keep on recently named President Harry Paul Schrank (TIME. Sept. 8), cut production costs, and accent the hard sell in an effort to turn the company's losses ($684,000 on 1961 sales of $46.6 million) into profits.

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