In Memoriam - Dr. Carl Ullrich Peddinghaus

It is with a heavy heart that I share the passing of my father, who died peacefully at home on Saturday, surrounded by family, following a long battle with cancer.

As I reflect on his life, I find myself thinking not only about what he meant to my family, but also about the tremendous role he played in building Peddinghaus into the company we know today.

While my father was not the founder of Peddinghaus, he played an integral role in shaping the company into what it is today. He was a man of vision who recognized that Peddinghaus could not build a lasting future in America simply by exporting machinery from Gevelsberg, Germany. He understood that to succeed in this market, we needed to manufacture our equipment here.

That vision eventually led him from a small dealership in New York to Bradley, Illinois, where he acquired Manco Manufacturing in 1976–1977. This established the foundation for what is now the site of Peddinghaus’ global headquarters.

While still living in Germany, my father would travel to America four or five times a year, often staying for two weeks at a time. Under his guidance, our American operation gradually evolved from producing beam punch lines and angle processing machinery into increasingly sophisticated equipment, including the FPB, BDL drill lines, and many of the technologies that helped establish the Peddinghaus name throughout the structural steel industry.

Of course, building a German-owned business in a small American community was not always easy. There were cultural differences, growing pains, and plenty of challenges along the way. But my father believed in the American market, he believed in the people here, and always kept his vision for the future of Peddinghaus.

His love for America was not only business-based, however. In my younger years, I accompanied him on many visits to Illinois. We stayed at the old hotel in downtown Kankakee, explored the area, and even looked at homes, including one of the Frank Lloyd Wright houses. My father was so set on moving our family to America that he eventually obtained green cards for all of us. However, as often happens in life, my mother had other ideas. She was understandably reluctant to leave her family and her home in Germany, and our move never materialized.

Regardless, his fondness for America never left him and eventually, he encouraged me to come to America as an exchange student. After spending a year here, I returned to Germany and informed my parents that I intended to make America my permanent home. As you can imagine, my mother was less than thrilled with this announcement. My father, on the other hand, when out of earshot of my mother, encouraged me. He helped support my college education and living expenses and we worked very closely together during his frequent trips to the U.S.

Perhaps the most important moment in our professional relationship came when the future leadership of our American operation was called into question. My arrival to the U.S. must have made the then President of Peddinghaus’ U.S. nervous because he eventually presented my father with an ultimatum, asking him to choose either him or me to lead Peddinghaus U.S. He obviously believed that my father would choose to send me back to Germany but instead, he stood behind me. Needless to say, that decision changed my life and the future of Peddinghaus Corporation in many ways.

From that point forward, he gave me the freedom to lead, to make decisions, and, yes, occasionally to make mistakes. Those of you who know me can probably appreciate that I was a little more aggressive than my father. He was conservative, thoughtful, and rarely in a hurry to make a decision. I, on the other hand, sometimes wanted things done yesterday. Thankfully, however, whenever I became too enthusiastic or impatient, he had a wonderful way of calming me down and encouraging me to think twice. We did not always agree, but we respected each other’s judgement.

My father was also instrumental in the continued expansion of our American operations. He believed that a company should never grow so large in one location that it lost its personal connection with its employees. In his mind, keeping individual facilities at a manageable size was important to maintaining the culture and quality of our business. This philosophy eventually led him to establishing Peddinghaus South Carolina in Andrews, which turned out to be a great decision.

Outside of business, my father had many interests and hobbies. He held a doctorate in philosophy, had an extraordinary curiosity about technology, and was even involved alongside Mr. Leister in the early development of PeddiMat. At a time when very few people had personal computers, he already had a Commodore computer and was always looking forward to new innovations. He had some rather interesting hobbies as well, including experimenting with dowsing rods to locate underground water. I suppose you could say he was always interested in discovering things that others could not see.

He loved American culture, American music, and American politics. I believe two of his favorite Americans were Ronald Reagan and Hank Williams, which tells you something about the man. Even when he was not traveling here for business, he enjoyed coming to America simply for the pleasure of being here.

Over the years, I am sure my father had numerous opportunities to sell the company, retire comfortably, and enjoy a much more extravagant lifestyle than the one he had. I am glad that was never what motivated him. He understood that Peddinghaus was much more than a family business. It represented the livelihoods of hundreds of employees, the future of their families, and a responsibility to the generations that would follow.

He was not always a man who openly expressed his emotions, but I knew how deeply he cared about this company and the people who made it successful. Even during his final visits to America last summer, I could see the pride he took in what Peddinghaus had become.

I am fortunate that he gave me the opportunity to build a life in America, but also trusted me with the responsibility of carrying forward our family's business. He provided the foundation, the guidance, and while he may no longer be with us, his influence can still be found throughout our facilities.

On behalf of my family, I want to thank all of you who have contributed to making his vision a reality. I know he was tremendously proud of what we have accomplished together.

Sincerely yours,
Carl G. (Anton) Peddinghaus
CEO