Baltimore Aircoil Company (BAC) announced that its founder, John Engalitcheff Jr., has been inducted into the National Refrigeration Foundation’s Legacy 100 Club. The program recognizes individuals whose innovations have had a lasting impact on the refrigeration and cooling industry.
According to the National Refrigeration Foundation, the Legacy 100 Club honors pioneers whose contributions helped shape modern refrigeration technology and supported the industry’s role in essential infrastructure worldwide.
Engalitcheff founded BAC in 1938 and built the company’s first cooling coil in his garage. BAC said he later secured 47 patents, including 23 in evaporative cooling technologies, helping establish evaporative cooling for commercial and industrial heat rejection applications.
BAC said the company now holds more than 1,000 patents granted worldwide and supplies cooling technologies for HVAC, industrial, refrigeration, and data center applications. The company said Engalitcheff’s work supported systems used in food refrigeration, manufacturing, commercial buildings, and digital infrastructure.
“John believed innovation mattered most when it solved real problems for customers,” said Don Fetzer, President of BAC. “His curiosity, courage, and commitment to doing things better shaped the innovative and customer-centric culture that continues to define BAC today.”
