Leo Swan, co-founder of EDCO and a well-liked and respected supplier to the rental industry, died earlier this month at the age of 93, from the coronavirus.
Swan, whose given last name was Swantkowski, was born in Poland, but immigrated to the United States at the age of two. Swan served in the United States Navy during World War 2. Following his military service, he worked for the National Cash Register company before accepting a job at Rental Tools & Equipment in Silver Spring, Md., where he worked with the late John Doran Sr. and Ed Harding.
While working at Rental Tools, Swan noticed customers repeatedly asked for a machine for resurfacing concrete, especially large areas. Along with Harding, he created the first dual-disc concrete grinder in 1959 and created Equipment Development Co. along with Harding and Doran.
As the company and product line grew, EDCO’s influenced reached national and international markets. Still Swan never wavered from his customer-centric business mindset with his customers and employees. The commitment of relationships with customers helped EDCO, still a family-owned business, evolve from a three-man operation into the 100-plus employee company it is today.
When Swan gave his acceptance speech during the 2006 ARA Hall of Fame induction ceremony, he said, “It's been my good fortune to be associated with the finest people in the world: The owners and operators of equipment rental centers. I’ve never met a rental person I didn’t like.”
Swan was involved and interested in every phase of his manufacturing company from assembly to marketing to sales. When he took time away from work, he enjoyed sailing, painting and spending time with his wife of 70 years, Irene, and their family.
In a statement from EDCO, the company said: “Despite the revolutionary concrete grinder that Leo helped create, his legacy isn’t defined by that problem-solving machine. His legacy is defined by the indelible imprint on the lives of his family, EDCO’s employees and his customers, along with the contributions he made to the rental industry as a whole.”
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.