Home NEWS It's a family affair at AEM Hall of Fame
It's a family affair at AEM Hall of Fame
A light-hearted look at how the AEM Hall of Fame shows how equipment manufacturing is a family affair.
by Mathew MacDonald
Nice, a tie. And with Elmer Fudd on'em! Or perhaps, Wow! I needed socks with embroidered golf clubs!—said probably no one in the past 40 years.
Only you know what (add favorite sport) cards you need for your collection. And even you can't afford those, without your spouse finding out. Ahh, if only the golf clubs were real and not plastered on your new socks, maybe you would even consider taking up the sport.
What do you get for the guy who has everything and nothing all at the same time?
Yup… it's Father's Day, aka the day when no one knows what to do to celebrate it properly. (Ed. Note: Sorry, the article writer appears to be harboring some past bitterness. Then again, maybe we should ask his dad or grandfather about Father's Days past.)
But perhaps the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) Hall of Fame has a different method. Make it more about those generations of family.
Until June 17, 2022—Father's Day is on the 19th this year—the AEM Hall of Fame is accepting 2022 nominations to recognize the families who have been inducted, either together or over the generations.
As off-road equipment industry professionals, the AEM said it is privileged to pay tribute to the diverse individuals who became pioneers, inventors, and leaders—making a significant and lasting impact on our industry and our world.
Nominations may be submitted online HERE.
"With 66 individual members, it amazes me that there are eight different families with multiple members in the AEM Hall of Fame," said Megan Tanel, President of the AEM. "Including the first father-son-daughter combination to be inducted, in Gary and Robert Vermeer and Mary Andringa of Vermeer. I look forward to incorporating new families of all kinds into the Hall of Fame this year and in the future."
Mary Andringa of Vermeer Corporation is the third member of her family to be inducted, in 2019, after her brother Robert Vermeer (2016) and father and company founder Gary Vermeer (1996). The Pella, Iowa-based implement specialist is responsible for innovations ranging from the first stump cutter, first tree spade, several different kinds of trenchers, to finding new ways for farmers and contractors to afford them, and more efficient ways to produce them.
The most recent family induction to the AEM Hall of Fame are brothers Ray and Koop Ferwerda, inducted together in 2020 for inventing the Gradall hydraulic excavator. The earliest? Father Harry H. Barber (1993) and son H. Ashley "Ash" Barber (1994), the former for inventing the asphalt paving machine and co-founding of the Barber-Greene Company, and the latter for his leadership as chief executive officer of the same company.
The Steiger Family, father John and sons Maurice and Douglass, founders of the Steiger Tractor Company in the 1950s, focusing on heavy, articulated, four-wheel-drive agricultural tractors were inducted together in 2018, 32 years after their company was acquired by Case IH where their name lives on as the Case IH Steiger Series. Meanwhile, a father-son team that started in the construction world, Joseph Cyril "J.C." Bamford, founder and namesake of JCB, Inc. (1993) and son Lord Anthony Bamford (2008) were inducted 15 years apart.
Finally, one of the most family-oriented organizations represented in the AEM Hall of Fame may be Bobcat. Bobcat, famous for its skid steer loaders that were invented by brothers Cyril and Louis Keller (1999) and originally manufactured and perfected by Melroe Manufacturing Company, founded by E.G. Melroe who was inducted, along with sons Les, Cliff, and Irving, nephew Sylvan, and son-in-law Eugene Dahl, in 2014, putting eight people from two families into the AEM Hall of Fame.
See what other families are in the AEM Hall of Fame and tell the AEM who's missing by submitting your own nomination, at https://www.aem.org/hall-of-fame.
Tips for how to submit a nomination with a better chance of success are available HERE.
For those of us not getting into the AEM Hall of Fame, maybe this Father's Day will be different. You might get that new ball cap you didn't know you wanted.
Don't let the article writer's bitterness sour you when the ball cap didn't fit! Nominate, nominate, nominate!
And maybe… someone will be nominating your family for all the great work you do into the AEM Hall of Fame.
About the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM)
AEM is the North America-based international trade group representing off-road equipment manufacturers and suppliers with more than 1,000 companies and more than 200 product lines in the agriculture and construction-related industry sectors worldwide. The equipment manufacturing industry in the US supports 2.8 million jobs and contributes roughly $288 billion to the economy every year.
Association of Equipment Manufacturers AEM Hall of Fame AEM