17.05.2014

Ray Pitman 1925-2014

We have received the belated news that access and boom truck pioneer Ray Pitman passed away on May 7th, he was 89.

Raymond Floyd Pitman was born in Webb City, Missouri, to Raymond O. and Mary Helen Pitman, on February 1, 1925, but spent most of his childhood living in St. Joseph, Missouri.

The family later moved to Kansas City, where he graduated from high school, and at 17 his parents bought him a one-way ticket to central Kansas so that he could work in the fields during harvest time. This not only introduced him to mechanical equipment, but also taught him a self-sufficiency which served him well for the rest of his life.

He was conscripted in 1945 and served in the South Pacific with the 873rd Engineer Aviation Battalion. In the Army he learned about hydraulics, which led to his life-long passion for designing and manufacturing construction and utility equipment.

In 1947 he married the love of his life, Betty Jean Bodwell, and they remained happily married until her untimely death in 2009. They adopted six children and were also instrumental in encouraging and helping numerous other families in the Kansas City area adopt children.

That same year he founded Pitman Construction Company, which specialised in 'below ground utility work' – mostly digging ditches for electricity cables and gas lines etc... He later moved above ground and began to work on overhead utility lines.

As the company grew, he purchased equipment to make his work more efficient, and when he was unable to find what he needed he designed and built it himself. One such product was a crane he dubbed the Hydra-Lift. This machine above all others led him to establish Pitman Manufacturing, along with boyhood friend Art Moore, to design, build and sell the equipment that he had developed for his work.

Looking to expand the range from the Hydra-Lift and digger derricks etc he was told about a trailer mounted aerial lift designed by Canadian Ted Trump - the Orchard Giraffe - designed to pick apples. He began negotiations to license the product, and also to build units for Trump to sell. At the same time Simon Lift from the UK got in on the negotiations and acquired the overseas rights, with Pitman acquiring the North American rights and also building the first kits for Simon.

In addition to utility work the Giraffe was used for aircraft de-icing applications by the military, and a larger truck mounted version was introduced. In 1958 a 50ft Giraffe was modified by the Pitman dealer in Chicago for fighting fires and was nicknamed the Snorkel. At this point Moore , who had a small minority stake in the business, registered the Snorkel brand name and then left the company to establish the Snorkel Fire Equipment Company to sell the fire fighting units, which continued to be manufactured by Pitman.

In 1964 Pitman founded RO Corporation to design and build R.O Stinger boom trucks, that business was later acquired by Simon and then Terex. In 1993 he established Pioneer Engineering to build a new type of boom truck, and in 1999 merged it into Mega Manufacturing.

In the early 1990s the Equipment Manufacturers Institute named him as one of the 100 most significant contributors to the mechanisation of construction and agriculture.
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Ray Pitman

Pitman was keen to help others succeed and worked with the Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Programme, which mentors business owners in the Kansas City area, until fairly recently.

A celebration of his life was held on Tuesday, May 13th in Leawood, Kansas, he leaves behind his children, Raymond F. Pitman, Jr, Mary R. Neddo, Betsy Curry, Kathy Walworth, Nancy Carter and David B. Pitman. Grandchildren- Pate, Carry, Rob, Bryce, Jack, Alex, Nick, Josh, Ryan, Oliver, Stephanie, Chrissy, Mallory, and Trey.

Speaking of Pitman’s passing, Terex chief executive Ron Defeo said: “The industry has lost a true pioneer and innovator who embodied why we call his the Greatest Generation.I am saddened to hear of Ray’s passing, and my thoughts go out to the Pitman family. Ray’s legacy will live on in the equipment he designed and built.”