Lonergan spent 40 years in crane sales, service and parts companies. Beginning his career in sales at LB Smith, he went on to become a dealer representative for Pettibone before he founded CranExon. Later, he worked in sales for Stewart Equipment, and in 1982 founded Syracuse Equipment, according to the Empire Crane Company.
He had a great vision and in 1994 he introduced the CT-2, the first City Class All-Terrain Crane, to the North American crane market from Germany. Other brands he worked with include Demag, American and P&H.
Lonergan introduced Mantis, the telescopic-boom crawler crane manufacturer, to Boston’s massive ‘Big Dig’ highway development project. Mantis eventually supplied 25 to the project, and the first 200t American HC1500.
When Syracuse Equipment closed in 2002, he mentored sons Paul and Luke in their new firm, Empire Crane.
“Rare in a salesman, Tom never played golf or powered up a computer. He preferred to talk face-to-face, discuss specs, and go over load charts,” the company said.
“Seeing the explosion in crane sales and being part of the company’s success was a great source of pride for him. Yes, Tom was a major player, despite his reluctance to take advantage of the technological advances of the day. It became comical when we all realized it was a waste of time to ask him to fax over a load chart to a customer, or email an update to a business contact. He would instead head off in his car to Boston, Connecticut, New Jersey, West Virginia, to talk about the Yankees, tractors, and cranes, and work on achieving the more personal relationship he preferred to have with his customers.”
Tom Lonergan Tom Lonergan