HOLLAND ? Dale Danver, who invented non-flammable paper and insulating tiles that will fly at the end of the decade on the next generation Space Shuttle, died Oct. 5 of natural causes in Portugal. He was 54.

Danver was CEO and President of Sordal, a technology research lab in Holland, a small city on the Lake Michigan shoreline, where he founded the company in 1999. Sordal focuses on the development and manufacture of thermally stable, lightweight, highly inflammable, open and closed cell polyimide foams and related materials, used primarily by the U.S. military.

Sordal twice won the SBAM Innovation of the Year Award and in 2005 was named one of the 50 Companies To Watch in Michigan by the Edward Lowe Foundation.

The company, in its short history, also developed an impressive record of winning federal Small Business Innovation Research Grants. Sordal exhibited most recently at the MichBio Expo at Cobo Center on Sept. 30, where Danver attended with Sordal Administrative Assistant Valorie Oonk. He left a few days later for a short vacation in Lisbon, Portugal, before planning to continue on to Russia for business meetings.

Oonk said she had a conversation with Danver last month at Sordal?s headquarters where he sat back in a chair, put his hands behind his head and told her he had a wonderful life.

Danver?s transition was announced in a brief press release from Sordal.

?The Sordal team regrets to inform you of the loss of the company’s

founder, Dale Danver,?? said Sordal Project Manager Rob Hartman. ?Needless to say, Dale’s leadership will be greatly missed by all of us here, as will his friendship and generosity.?

Danver grew up in Livonia and went on to graduate from Dayton University with a degree in chemical engineering. He is survived by his two daughters, Elizabeth Danver of Evansville, Ind., and Laura Danver of Dayton, Ohio.

Services are 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Yntema Funeral Home, 251 S. State Street in Holland. Visitation will be 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to Bethany Christian Services or the Holland Rescue Mission.

For more on Sordal, click on Sordal.Org