Story highlights Husleman came up with the cup in the 1970s

The red cups outsell the blue ones

(CNN) 2016 is still not done. Before we lost George Michael, Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds this week, we lost someone who's probably had just as big an impact on our lives, though you've never heard of him:

Robert Leo Hulseman.

He's the man who invented the red Solo cup, staple at every party ever. He died last week at age 84.

The Solo Cup Company was the family business -- Hulseman's dad started it in 1936 -- and Hulseman started working in the company factory when he was 18, according to his obit on Legacy.com

He worked his way up to CEO of the company, succeeding his father in 1980 and helping the company grow into one of the largest food service packaging companies in the world.

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