GREENE, N.Y. — George G. Raymond Jr., president of The Raymond Corporation from 1953 to 1977, and the company’s chairman from 1978 to 1994, died on January 5 at the age of 83. Under his leadership Raymond grew from $5 million to $230 million in annual revenues, and became publicly traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market.
Mr. Raymond spearheaded the development of the industry’s first battery-powered, narrow aisle lift trucks, providing warehouses with a revolutionary way to store materials and increase warehouse capacity. This saved the material handling industry millions of dollars annually.
“George was truly an industry innovator. The values and philosophies he instilled at Raymond remain a big part of this company today,” says James J. Malvaso, president and CEO of The Raymond Corporation. “During his 25 years as president and subsequent 17 years as chairman, he took care of his employees, his customers and his community.”
George Raymond Jr. began his 56-year career at the company founded by his father, working in the company’s drafting department at age 14. He held various positions at the company – including sales manager and assistant to the president – before succeeding his father as president in 1953.
Raymond started the company’s first employee profit-sharing program. He also pioneered a participative management philosophy at the company, something quite new to corporate America at the time. From the early 1960’s, work at The Raymond Corporation was a team effort, empowering employees throughout the organization.
Raymond attended Cornell University in 1939, and served in the U.S Army’s 89th Infantry Division from 1943-45 under the command of Gen. George S. Patton. He served as president of the Greene, N.Y. school board for 20 years and was an active member of the Greene, N.Y., Rotary Club. He served as chairman of the board of trustees of Alfred University in Alfred, N.Y., where he endowed professorial chairs in family business at the University’s school of business, and was awarded Chairman Emeritus and Doctor of Law Honorous.
Raymond was active in the Industrial Truck Association for more than 25 years and served as president of the Material Handling Institute in 1956. He was a member of the American Management Association, the Chief Executive Forum, and the Young Presidents’ Organization from 1956-71.
In 1965, George Raymond, Sr. and George Raymond, Jr. set up The Raymond Foundation with a start-up check of $150. Now a multi-million dollar charitable foundation, it has funded many worthy projects within the Greene, N.Y., community and New York’s Southern Tier over the years.
Raymond was a founding member of the Family Firm Institute in 1980, and author of the book All In The Family Business – A Personal Memoir and Corporate History .
He is survived by his wife, a sister, six children and stepchildren, eleven grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.
The Raymond Corporation is the leading North American provider of materials handling solutions that improve space utilization and productivity, with lower cost of operation and greater operator acceptance. High-performance, reliable, ergonomically designed Raymond ®products range from a full line of manual and electric pallet trucks and walkie stackers to counterbalanced trucks, Reach-Fork trucks, orderpickers and dual-purpose (pallet handling/case picking) Swing-Reach trucks.
For more information about The Raymond Corporation, or to locate a Raymond dealer, visit the company Web site at http://www.Raymondcorp.com or call 1 (800) 235-7200. ACR System™ Raymond ®, Reach-Fork ®, Deep-Reach ®and Swing-Reach ®are trademarks of The Raymond Corporation.