By 1916, he had become an accountant and purchasing agent for the Vici Kid Leather Company,[1] headed by Robert H. Foerderer.
[2] There he was involved in the negotiations with Rohm and Haas, who were trying to persuade the company to adopt Oropon in their tanning process.
[1] Trudell had been an amateur naturalist since his move to Philadelphia, and began studying mineralogy with Edgar T. Wherry and others around 1910.
"[4] A specimen collected by Trudell in 1920 proved to be a new hybrid, which was named Asplenium × trudellii in his honor by Wherry in 1925.
[7] Trudell's accounting skills allowed him to fill the post of treasurer to the Philadelphia Botanical Club from 1947 to 1960,[4] and he was also a member of the American Fern Society.