William J Motto

Meridian Bioscience Inc. founder Bill Motto, a trailblazer in the medical testing industry, died in September 2014. He was 73 Started in Mr. Motto's basement with a $500 investment, Newtown-based Meridian Bioscience makes medical testing kits, generating more than $188 million annually and now employs 550 in more than half a dozen countries. In 1966, Mr. Motto was a salesman in the trucking industry when a chance meeting with a Denver Chemical Manufacturing executive prompted him to get into clinical diagnostic sales for the company that sold early pregnancy tests and other products. After 10 years, Mr. Motto's employer was bought out. He decided to start his own distribution business using his contacts from a decade of visiting hospitals and research departments at universities. Mr. Motto became a distributor for a rapid fungal test developed by the University of Kentucky. He also developed a plastic container for transporting patient samples. Eventually, Meridian Bioscience began developing tests in-house. In a 1982 breakthrough, Meridian Bioscience developed the first 10-minute test for strep throat. Prior to the innovation, doctor's swabbed patient's throats and waited two to three days for results. The company went public four years later. Mr. Motto was born in Hazelwood, Pennsylvania to a family of factory workers. Deemed not intelligent enough for college, he trained to become a shoemaker. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1959 to 1963. He died after an undisclosed illness. Mr. Motto is survived by his wife, Barbara. He also had three sons and eight grandchildren.