James "Jimmy" Kaplanges, who developed and marketed an industrial cleaner strong enough to make graffiti disappear, died of cancer complications Sunday at Atlantic General Hospital in Worcester County. The former East Baltimore resident was 77.
Born in Baltimore, he was the son of Konstantinos Kaplanges and his wife, Katina. Raised on Oldham Street, he was a 1954 graduate of Patterson Park High School, where he played football and lacrosse. He studied to be a chemist at the University of Baltimore.
Mr. Kaplanges first learned about cleaning agents from his father and mother, who ran a lunchroom, the Harbour Court Inn, at Light and Barre streets in the then-industrial Inner Harbor.
"One of the basic chores was making their own soap to wash the kitchen equipment," said his son, Gus Kaplanges of Kent Island. "My father boiled down the grease for the soap and he began to experiment. He wanted to make a cleaner for restaurants."
The family credits spice and tea plant owner Charles McCormick, who would stop by for a morning coffee and chocolate doughnut, with advising the young Mr. Kaplanges to go into business and be an entrepreneur.
"My dad was always an advocate for small businesses," his son said. "He'd speak at schools and he sat on business committees."
In 1966, he named his discovery GP66 Miracle Cleaner. The initials GP stood for Greek Power. He initially sold it to other Greek-American restaurant owners. He rented a factory in the Greektown-Haven Street neighborhood. He later bought an East Lombard Street body shop. After GP66 became successful, he expanded to a building in the Holabird Industrial Park. He had annual sales of $3 million to $5 million.
"He quickly expanded sales from the local restaurant market to rental car fleets ... and industrial accounts, including General Motors, Armco Steel and Crown Cork and Seal Co.," according to a 1985 Evening Sun article.
He went on to sell his cleaner to the Campbell Soup Co., Hewlett-Packard Co. and the Kellogg Co.
"GP66 came out of his work and his determination and his drive," his son said.
The cleaner, described as a water-based, non-ionic surfactant, was phosphate-free, biodegradable and nontoxic.
It received a strong endorsement from then-New York Mayor Ed Koch, who appeared before reporters to show how the city was battling graffiti.
"Hey look, you guys, it's coming off," Mr. Koch said in a 1984 New York Times article. "I have found the answer to graffiti." The story noted that one drum of GP66 cleaned 37 filthy garbage trucks.
Then-Baltimore Mayor William Donald Schaefer often called Mr. Kaplanges when he spotted graffiti.
"Schaefer believed that graffiti had to come off right away," said Gus Kaplanges, a baseball coach and scout. "My father sent me and my brother to clean the North Avenue bridge and the Howard Street bridge. I was terrified of the heights."
The family continues to sell GP66. It is now marketed on the QVC channel.
Mr. Kaplanges moved to Ocean City and built a castle-shaped home on a canal setting near Gold Coast Mall.
He remained active in the Greek-American community in Ocean City and was an organizer of the Greek Festival. He recently worked out a plan to promote the festival with a banner flown along the beach by a small plane.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. George Greek Orthodox Church, 8805 Ocean Highway in Ocean City.
In addition to his son, survivors include his wife of 56 years, the former Iona Panteloukas; another son, Andrew Kaplanges of Kent Island; and four grandchildren.