Steve Husbands, Co-Founder of Point of Rental, Dies
Point of Rental Software co-founder Steve Husbands died Sept. 16 at the age of 76.
Husbands, alongside Bob Shaffer, helped start Overland Rentals, later known as Rental Stop, in Arlington, Texas, in 1982. The next year, they founded Point of Rental and began selling systems store-to-store, growing a side venture into the company now known worldwide as Point of Rental Software.
Husbands retired in 2012, after selling his stake in Point of Rental to current CEO Wayne Harris. He remained a fixture in the industry after his retirement, rarely missing an ARA Show, where he continued to attend as a buyer for his son's rental stores and his own projects. His son-in-law once said walking the show with him felt like walking around with the mayor: Husbands seemed to know every rental store owner in the country, along with their families and the equipment they ran.
"Steve was truly one of the kindest, most generous, and caring people you could ever meet," said Harris. "Throughout the years, both at Point of Rental and Rental Stop, Steve had an incredible impact on people. He would take people in and help them build better lives. There are countless people whose lives are better because Steve Husbands was a part of them."
Husbands is survived by his wife, Diane; son, David, and his wife, Jill; daughter, Kendra, and her husband, Ryun; and five grandchildren. Services will be held Oct. 2 at Christ Fellowship Church in Mansfield, Texas, with interment at Emerald Hills Memorial Park.
His full obituary is available here.
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.