James E. Forrest Sr. ran Forrest Manufacturing Inc. for more than 40 years and designed many of the company’s most successful and popular saw blades.

CLIFTON, NJ — James E. Forrest Sr., a saw blade designer and owner of Forrest Mfg. Inc., died November 5, in Pompton Plains, NJ.  He was 80 years old.

For over 40 years, Forrest ran Forrest Mfg. Inc., a New Jersey-based manufacturer of high-quality saw blades founded in 1946 by his father, Albert Walter Forrest. He initially supervised the sharpening operation before assuming management of the entire company. In the mid 1970’s, Forrest introduced standardized large-run saw blade manufacturing and also designed some of the company’s most successful and popular saw blades.

Prior to joining the family business, Forrest, a graduate of the Milwaukee Bible College in Milwaukee, WI, was a church pastor in Warren, MI.  From 1950 to 1952, he also served as a U.S. Army Chaplain Assistant in Trieste, Italy. In 1957, he married his wife Lois, who predeceased him in 1997. They had four children. Two of them, James Forrest Jr. and Jay Forrest, now run Forrest Manufacturing Inc.