Harold “Hap” Wagner, the longtime CEO of Allentown-based Air Products & Chemicals and a former basketball star, always aimed for the top, especially in business, writes James Hagerty for The Wall Street Journal.

Wagner was captain of the Stanford University basketball team and an officer in the Air Force before studying at Harvard Business School in the early 1960s.

He accepted a job at Air Products after earning his MBA. His leadership at the company soon earned him a reputation as a high flier. The company rotated him through a number of research, sales, and managerial jobs in the U.S. and Europe, before making him chief executive in 1992.

During his years as CEO, he made an acquisition in Spain and expanded the company in China and India.

After he retired in 2000, he took a cooking course in Italy before taking over the culinary duties at his Santa Rosa home.

Wagner recently died of lung cancer at 82.

Read more about Harold “Hap” Wagner in The Wall Street Journal by clicking here.