Graham Connor of Irvine, California, a prominent and respected 40-year veteran of the pallet industry, passed away recently after a long illness.
Graham served in senior leadership roles with all three of the industry’s major pallet pooling companies. He spent 20 years at CHEP, helping bring aboard the company’s first US customer, before serving as President and COO of PECO. In 2013, he joined iGPS, the nation’s leading plastic pallet pooler, and served with distinction as the company’s Senior VP of Sales and Customer Support over the past decade. He was also a board member of the Reusable Packaging Association.
Born in 1953 in Glasgow, Scotland, Graham went on to study geography at the University of Strathclyde before embarking on his logistics career and relocating to the United States. In his free time, he loved spending time with his daughter Blayre and traveling back to Scotland to walk the Scottish Highlands.
Graham’s colleagues and customers alike appreciated his spirited personality, wry sense of humor, and uncompromising commitment to providing top-quality service. He will be missed.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to either the American Cancer Society or Friends of the Earth. Both of these organizations were very important to Graham, and the family believes that making a donation to them would be a meaningful way to honor his memory.
Many, many condolences and reflections were shared on LinkedIn. We have posted several of them below, in order of appearance:
Remembering Graham Connor
To see a complete list of comments, visit this link.
Rick LeBlanc, EMBA, is the founder and editor of Reusable Packaging News (subscribe to the free newsletter) and editor of Western Pallet Magazine. A supply chain journalist with more than 30 years of experience, he specializes in pallets, reusable packaging, material handling and related operations. Rick is co-author of Pallets: A North American Perspective and Pallets & Progress: A Collected History of Pallets and Palletized Handling 1922–1945. He is also an advisory board member of the Virginia Tech Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design. Read Rick’s full bio.
