03.01.2022

David Keith Sargent 1938-2021

We have received the sad news that David Sargent, the former chief executive of aerial lift manufacturer UpRight, has died.

He passed away at home in the early hours of December 31st having succumbed to his battle with cancer. He was 83 in October.

David Sargent began his working life in the Merchant Navy, moving to London in 1965 to join Trident Equipment which provided electrical controls and distribution units and other items to the construction and shipping industries. In the 1970s he joined Wyse plant/WysePower selling temporary generating equipment for cranes and other purposes to sites across the UK and Middle East.

In 1983 he was recruited by UpRight, initially to head up the company’s alloy scaffold and scissor lift distribution and rental business in the UK - John Rusling Ltd. The company founder and former owner John Rusling was due to retire and Sargent was hired as managing director designate. However, in June 1983, shortly after he joined, UpRight acquired Hemel Hempstead-based Access Equipment, after its parent company - William Moss - had gone into administration. Sargent was parachuted in to manage the business, which had been an UpRIght licensee for its original Zip-Up welded joint scaffold towers. John Rusling agreed to delay his retirement a little, while the new acquisition was digested.
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David Sargent

Sargent oversaw the transfer of Access Equipment’s scaffold tower production from its plant in Sheffield to the UpRight facility in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland. At the start of 1987 he completed the merger of Access Equipment sales and rental operations with John Ruslings to create Newport, Shropshire based Instant Zip-Up, using the brand names of the tower systems the two companies sold both of which were UpRight designed products.

In 1987 Upright was acquired by Rick Stowe’s Griffin Group in a leveraged buyout. Stowe promoted sales and marketing director Hugo Kapelke to president, but the two men clearly had different ideas on how the business should be run and the relationship was short lived. Sargent’s work with the two UK businesses caught Stowe’s attention, his interest was reinforced at a group planning meeting in San Francisco where Sargent presented his vision for UpRight in the UK and the rest of Europe. As a result, Stowe appointed him as president/chief executive of UpRight in 1988, which required him to move to company headquarters in Oakland, California.
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He quickly began to transform the business, and then as a global economic slowdown took hold in the early 1990s, it became evident that Stowe and the Griffin group faced problems with the financing that they had arranged to acquire Upright. Sargent played a key role in keeping UpRight out of Chapter 11 when all had looked lost. The company bounced back strongly in the 1990s and became the market leading scissor lift manufacturer. He reluctantly handed over the president’s role to Jim Dillon in 1999 to work more closely with Stowe as an advisor and director of the Griffin Group. When Upright faced another financial challenge in 2001, Sargent was no longer in a position to prevent it going into Chapter 11 insolvency, from which it later emerged.

He continued to work as an advisor to Stowe for several years. But after he retired, he helped out as a tour guide at Salisbury Cathedral - the town where he was born had grew up. He loved meeting new people and showing them part of his heritage. He also enjoyed a game of golf and was a keen country sports enthusiast. In the 1990s he spent a great deal of time working from the UpRight plant in Dun Laoghaire and grew to love the country, its traditions and its people. In fact, one of his Irish colleagues said: ”He become a kind of honorary Irishman”.
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David Sargent with Guy Ramsey (L) on the golf course

David Sargent was a very special person, a people person, who was comfortable in his own skin and as such was not afraid to hire people who would challenge and question him. He would always listen and take soundings on major decisions and strategies, was open to persuasion, but was never afraid to take the final decision. Once he did, he expected everyone to go along with the decision and make it work. And invariably they did. He was the only person who was ever capable of managing a challenging owner in the form of Rick Stowe well.

He enjoyed people, travelling and life in general. His passing will be felt and mourned by the many people who knew him all over the world.
He leaves behind wife Jackie, son Robert, two daughters Rebecca and Katie along with seven grandchildren.
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David Sargent as a tour guide for Salisbury Cathedral

UPDATE
David Sargent's funeral service will be held on Midday, January 27th at St Mary's church in Alderbury , near Salisbury - SP5 3DW. And afterwards at Green Dragon pub in the village.
The family says that it does not know yet how many will be allowed to attend under covid rules, but if permitted as David, would have said "The more the merrier".
Donations, if desired to Salisbury Hospice Charity - care of L.N. Newman 01722 413 136.

The funeral will also be live streamed on the day:

Here is the live stream link and password:
https://video.ibm.com/channel/CWUTXKwPG7X
Password: Pledge55