Career
His product, which he named "Baby Gays", went on to become one of the most widely-sold brand names, where "Q" as in "Q-tip" stood for quality. There are many anecdotes about how Mr. Gerstenzang came to create this invention.
One goes like this:
Gerstenzang, inspired, soon produced a one-piece cotton swab."
Gerstenzang was born in Warsaw.
He emigrated to Chicago, Illinois in 1912. From 1918–1919, he returned to Europe as a representative of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
In 1919, he was still living in Chicago, and became a naturalized United States citizen there on September 29, 1919. By 1921, he had moved to New York City.
He founded a company, called the Leo Gerstenzang Infant Novelty Company, to market his new product.
In 1926, he changed the name of the product from Baby Gays to Q-Tips Baby Gays, with the Q standing for "quality". Eventually the Baby Gays part was dropped and the product was simply called Q-Tips.
