20.11.2013

Andrew Brown 1944 – 2013

We have received the sad news that Andrew Brown previously sales manager for Kobelco Cranes in the UK passed away in the early hours of this morning.

Brown retired from Kobelco in January and has been battling with cancer ever since, he was just 69. A highly popular salesman he spent his entire career in the crane industry and had joined Kobelco Cranes Europe when it was formed in 2000.

He started out as a student engineering apprentice at Ransomes and Rapier in Ipswich in 1961, and then transferred to NCK-Rapier as a sales representative for the north of England. He became product manager, when the successful Ajax and Eiger cranes were developed, along with the Orion and Olympus models and then became export manager. During his time in this role the company earned its first Queen’s Award for Export.
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Andrew Brown

He also spent several years as project manager at Ruston-Bucyrus in Lincoln, initially with the specific responsibility for offshore pedestal mounted marine cranes. He put Kobelco firmly on the crawler crane map in the UK selling over 120 units during his time there, which included many tough years for the UK crawler crane market.

Speaking on his retirement managing director of Kobelco Cranes Europe Masayuki Kimura, said: “Andrew Brown is highly regarded and respected throughout the crane industry, both in the UK and many other parts of the world. His lifetime experience as a dedicated crawler crane specialist has been invaluable in the successful introduction of Kobelco crawler cranes.”

Funeral arrangements

The funeral will be held on Thursday 28th November at 2:30pm at St Andrews Church, Rushmere St Andrew, Ipswich, IP5 1DG.
Family flowers only please.