Daryl Gaskins, region fleet director, fluid solutions, United Rentals, died recently at age 53. Gaskins began his career in the rental industry with Hertz Equipment Rental Corp. in 1995, beginning as sales coordinator, and then moving up to assistant branch manager, sales representative, branch manager, region manager of operations, and general manager, Middle East and North Africa, where he was responsible for the Hertz Dayim joint venture in the Middle East. He and his family spent two years in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He went on to work as CEO of ADCO before joining United Rentals in January 2020 as district manager in Fluid Solutions, later promoted to region fleet director.
Gaskins was born in Massachusetts and grew up in New Bern, N.C., and graduated from North Carolina State University. After marrying in 1997, he and his wife Claire lived in Greenville, N.C., and then moved to Clayton where they raised their daughters Lillie and Maggie.
According to his obituary, Gaskins was extremely hard-working, but loved being with his family more than anything, enjoyed traveling with family and friends, golfing with friends and his daughters, watching NCSU football and basketball and watching his daughters play soccer.
“Daryl made a lasting impression on all he met,” said David Scott, United Rentals senior vice president of specialty operations at United Rentals. “We are grateful for the time we had with him as both friends and colleagues. He will be severely missed. Our deepest condolences to his loved ones during this difficult time.”
“Daryl was someone who lived without worry,” former rental executive and close friend Norty Turner told RER. “His calm demeanor and easygoing approach defused many tense situations. That calm demeanor should not have been misconstrued as unambitious, because he was incredibly driven and achieved so much. So many people called him for advice and relied on his mentorship.”
Gaskins achieved a long list of accomplishments, such as a 41.6 percent of pretax income margin as a senior branch manager of the HERC Raleigh branch, realizing more than $120,000 per month in small equipment rentals and several hundred thousand more in large equipment. He regularly had the highest dollar utilization in his region as branch manager, according to then executives at Hertz.
However, far more important than the numbers, Daryl Gaskins will be remembered as a leader, mentor and friend, widely respected and loved by co-workers, friends and family.
He is survived by his wife, Claire Wood Gaskins; daughters Lillie and Maggie; his brother, Brent Gaskins and wife Rene, nephew Noah; parents, Sammy and Cindy Gaskins; grandmother, Jean Kiser; sister-in-law, Ashley Watts and nephews Jack, Davis, and Henry.
