We have heard the tragic news that Edward Seager, the owner of UK based tower crane company Bennetts Cranes, has died.
He passed away on Sunday, June 29th, following a short illness, shortly before his 62nd birthday. He had stepped back from the day to day running of the business in the back half of last year but remained involved. He leaves behind his wife Karen and son James.
Edward Seager
Edward Seager acquired the original business, W.D. Bennetts in 1998 from its owners, led by founder William Daniel Bennett who had set it up in 1965. In 2005 the company suffered a very unfortunate fatal incident in Worthing, which was finally prosecuted towards the end of 2008 and resulted in the company facing insolvency administration in 2009. Seager purchased the assets and started up again as Bennetts Tower cranes, building a substantial and successful business over the next 16 years.
Buying all the three cranes on the Raimondi stand at Bauma 2019 (L-R) Mauro Masetti of Raimondi, Edward Seager and Cristian Badin
A statement posted on the company’s website today said: “It is with great sadness we share with you that Edward Seager, former managing director of Bennetts Cranes, passed away on Sunday after a short period of illness. Edward had been taking a step back from the day to day running of Bennetts over the last year, but his passion and dedication to the construction industry as a whole, and in particular the business he built over the last 16 years, always remained.”
“Edward was a larger than life character with a fantastic sense of humour and so many friends and acquaintances. Our deepest condolences go to his family at this difficult time.”
“Bennetts Cranes remains committed to offering outstanding service and all work is continuing as usual with the same attention to detail and care that you have come to expect from us. Exactly as Edward would have wanted.”
Edward Seager was a true character in a quiet thoughtful and intelligent way, he was passionate beyond measure about the tower crane industry, and would often call one of the Vertikal team, usually Leigh, late in the evening to give his take on a piece of news, pass on information or just want to chew over some news that we had posted or he thought we should have posted.
He seemed to know his competitors crane fleets as well as his own, and you could be sure of a call following the publication of our annual Top 30 UK Irish rental fleets, or the Rental Rate report to tell us what we had wrong and what we had got right.
We should have known that something was wrong when he did not call after they were published this year, but assumed he was simply distracted with another project. He always made it to Vertikal Days and will certainly be missed by us all this year.
We will update this item as and when we learn more. Including his funeral details.
Dave Holder
A devastating loss for Edward's family, Bennetts Cranes and our wider industry in general. He was a warm and generous man who regularly astounded me with his knowledge on many varied subjects including Latin, Greek Mythology and the Bonds Market. A wonderfully entertaining man, who could brighten up the darkest day with a text or a call. Edward has left us far too soon and I'm sure we shall all miss him greatly.
Dave Holder
A devastating loss for Edward's family, Bennetts Cranes and our wider industry in general. He was a warm and generous man who regularly astounded me with his knowledge on many varied subjects including Latin, Greek Mythology and the Bonds Market. A wonderfully entertaining man, who could brighten up the darkest day with a text or a call. Edward has left us far too soon and I'm sure we shall all miss him greatly.