In Memoriam: Custom Building Products’ Mike P. Bilek

SEAL BEACH, Calif.--Mike P. Bilek, chairman of the board of Custom Building Products, recently died at home of cancer. He was 71.

As a post-WWII Czech immigrant, Bilek co-founded Custom Building Products, a national manufacturer of ceramic tile installation and care products. Bilek and his business partner Thomas R. Peck developed the original formula for thin-set mortar. In his 60s, Bilek founded another manufacturing enterprise in the Czech village from which he had fled in 1945 to escape Communist oppression.