SOUTH ORANGE – J. Robert Wiss, 63, president and a director of J. Wiss & Sons, Newark, cutlery manufacturers, died today at his home, 328 Grove Street. He was a summer resident of Bay Head.
Mr. Wiss, who had been head of the company since 1931, was a grandson of Jacob Wiss, founder of the company in 1848. The company, which employs 610 persons, is said to be the nation's largest makers of scissors and shears.
In the 1930's the company popularized the use of pinking shears, made with notched, interlocking blades, which prevent raveling of fabric edges.
Mr. Wiss attended Lehigh University and had been with the family business 43 years. He was a member of the Newark Rotary Club and the Newark Chapter of the Hammond Organ Society. He belonged to the Bay Head Yacht Club.
Surviving are his mother, Mrs. Charlotte Lange Wiss; a son, Richard Wiss; two daughters, Mrs. Ruth Ward, Jr., and Mrs. Karl W. Corby, and a sister, Mrs. W. Denton Taylor.