Obituary: Ted Urbanek

Ted Urbanek died on Monday 2 December 2002, just six months after retiring after many years as president of US boom truck manufacturer National Crane. He was 68.

Urbanek joined National Crane in 1972 and served as controller before being appointed president in 1975.

He also served for many years as president of the MOTACC group - Manufacturers of Telescoping & Articulating Cranes Council of the Equipment Manufacturers Institute. He was a member of the Institute of Management Accounting and was serving on the board of AutoCon. He served as an officer in the US Army. He graduated from the University of Nebraska with a BA in Business Administration.

Urbanek died at Bergan Mercy Hospital in Omaha Nebraska after complications from gall bladder surgery. He is survived by his wife, Mae Helen (Maidy) Urbanek and three daughters and their husbands and grandchildren.

Stuart Anderson writes: Ted Urbanek became president of National Crane when the company was owned by Apache Corporation. In 1978 the firm was acquired by Grove Manufacturing Co. Grove chief executive officer J Martin Benchoff and president Wayne A. Nicarry decided to keep National Crane separate from Grove. It proved a wise judgement because under Ted's careful leadership, National turned in consistently excellent fiscal results and maintained its dominant control of the boom truck market.

Ted kept his position longer than any other senior executive in the Grove group, through the sale of the business to Hanson in 1984, the appointment of John Panetierre as CEO of Grove in 1984, the appointment of Bob Stift as CEO in 1992 , the sale of Grove Worldwide to Keystone in 1998 and the appointment of Sam Bonanno as CEO, and the appointment of Jeff Bust as CEO in 1999.

Ted was a quiet spoken, pleasant and thoughtful man who knew his company and business very well indeed. He was universally respected by colleagues and competitors alike and loved by his workforce."