(AP) - Many know that Air Products began with one man's vision and energy. Not so well known is that a young college graduate's willingness to work for peanuts also played a role in the company's success.

That young man was Frank E. Pavlis - Air Products' first employee. He turned 100 on Oct. 29 and with that milestone came a flood of memories about Air Products' founder, the late Leonard P. Pool, and the legacy he would leave.Pavlis was completing his master's degree in engineering at the University of Michigan when Pool, an entrepreneur about 10 years his senior, shared with him a big idea about selling industrial gases."He said, 'When are you going to come to work for me?'" Pavlis recalled during a recent visit at the South Whitehall Township home of Pool's niece, Anne Pool Miller, and her husband, Clair Miller.Pavlis, who already had a job offer at Shell Oil Co. that fit well with his studies in petroleum engineering, was startled by Pool's recruiting pitch."I thought to myself, if somebody wants to hire me so vigorously as this Leonard Pool, maybe it's a good idea that I should accept the challenge," he said.So in 1940, Pavlis became chief engineer at the newly christened Air Products in Detroit. And he came at a bargain, agreeing to work for $3 day."Mr. Pool," as Pavlis then called him, wanted the young engineer to design an affordable oxygen generator."I said, 'Who's going to build this plant that I design?'" Pavlis recalled. "He said, 'You will.'"Invested in Pool's vision, Pavlis worked with him on what would become the foundation of the company's product line. He essentially implemented Pool's idea, which was to derive pure oxygen out of ordinary air and store it in cylinders that could to be transported for hospital and military use.From those humble beginnings, Air Products would grow to become one of the world's biggest producers of industrial gases. And Pavlis would launch a successful and fulfilling career with the only company he would ever work for.The Pool family never forgot Pavlis' contribution."If it hadn't been for him," Pool Miller said, "I don't think there would have been an Air Products."The company started as the Great Depression was receding and World War II raged overseas. A year later, the United States joined the Allies, and the oxygen Air Products produced was needed for high-altitude flights. To meet the aviation demands, the government paid for the company's move to a much larger facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee.From Tennessee, Air Products made its final move to the Trexlertown area of Upper Macungie Township after the war. That proved beneficial for Air Products because of the proximity to New York City and Washington, D.C., and a large customer in Bethlehem Steel Corp.Pool, Pavlis and others who started the company could not have predicted such a robust future, with Air Products becoming one of the Lehigh Valley's two Fortune 500 companies (PPL Corp. is the other). As of its last earnings report, the company boasted annual sales of $9.5 billion, assets of $18.1 billion and a worldwide workforce of 18,600 in 50 countries, including about 3,000 in the Lehigh Valley.One of the more unusual moves Pool made was to name Pavlis company treasurer during Air Products' early years. Pavlis questioned the appointment, because he was a man of science, not finance."I asked him, 'Why do you want me to be a treasurer?'" Pavlis recalled. "He said, 'Anybody who can live on $3 a day can be a treasurer.'"During his 40 years with the company, Pavlis rose through the executive ranks, joining the board of directors in 1952. He became vice president for engineering and finance, retiring in 1980 as vice president for international/world trade.These days, Pavlis lives in an assisted living facility near Allentown.Pavlis said he still holds Air Products stock and donates to his alma maters, Michigan and Michigan Technological University, where he earned his undergraduate engineering degree. In 2014, Michigan Tech opened a new school named for him: Pavlis Honors College, where students are "inspired to lead, create, and travel their own path," and to "become the next generation of scholars who make a difference."As a centenarian, Pavlis is finding it more difficult to walk, see and hear. But he is blessed with a sharp mind, a positive outlook, and fond memories."I traveled the world five times," he said, noting that his globe-trotting came during his Air Products' days and in retirement. Those miserly wages he agreed to in 1940 paid off exponentially.