18.04.2019

Eddie Brown 1926 -2019

Eddie Brown, a senior manager with Tarmac Construction based in Iver responsible for all crane, equipment and lifting operations has died, he was 93.

Brown’s first encounter with cranes came when he left school at 14 and went to work with tunnelling contractor Kinnear Moodie where he got to work on steam cranes and specialist concrete mixers. He left to do his National Service in 1945 serving with the army in Egypt and working on aircraft in the far east a job he loved.

He resumed his tunnel construction work on returning to civilian life and was involved with a number of major projects, including work on Oxford Circus underground Station. He joined Mitchell Construction in 1973 – following its acquisition of Kinnear Moodie in the mid 1960s which was acquired by Tarmac the following year. In his time he worked on a number of major projects, including the Cairo Waste Water/sewers project in the 1980s.
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Eddie Brown and friends during his national service

At Tarmac he was responsible both mobile and tower cranes and was a well known and respected figure in the crane industry, he had a particular passion for tower cranes and later became involved with training as a founder member of the CITB.

Throughout his life he was a firm believer in keeping fit and eating healthily, and was involved with setting up one of the first gyms in Staines. A particular passion was skiing which he kept up until at 89 he was diagnosed with bowel cancer, which he managed to beat, but sadly he never got to ski again.

He also had a passion for fast and exotic cars and throughout his career avoided company cars, always managing to negotiate a package that allowed him to avoid standard the standard executive cars. He loved working on his cars and insisted that both his son and daughter were able to strip out an engine and rebuild it before he would teach them to drive.
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Eddie Brown

He kept in touch with many of his crane and construction industry friends and colleagues right up until the end. He had a fall just six weeks or so ago, and while in hospital was diagnosed with lung problems which quickly led to his passing on Saturday April 13th . He leaves behind his wife of 70 years a son and a daughter