Buddy Greene

Buddy Greene, Former President of IFPTA, Has Passed

From Alan Bog, President, IFPTA

Dear Members,

It is with great sadness we learned this week that Buddy Greene passed away on 14 September. Buddy was my predecessor as President of IFPTA.

I had the privilege of working with him as a Director and Officer of the Association since I was first elected to the Board in 1999.

From the start I was impressed by his dedication, his attention to detail and his thoroughness. He became President after the sudden loss of Paul Doiron.

Buddy was a strong President. He led us through a difficult period when our partner at the time was having difficulties and at the time saved the Transport Symposium in Mobile, and we have grown in strength since then.

Buddy was a gentleman, and a good friend; he will be missed by all of us at IFPTA and by many friends in the industry.

I was extremely flattered when he asked the Board of Directors to elect me to take over the Presidency from him when he stepped down at the Savannah Symposium. Since then he has been very supportive and always available if I needed any advice.

On behalf of IFPTA, I am sure you will join me in sending our deepest sympathy to his dear wife Pat.

I asked Scott Menzies, who worked alongside Buddy as Secretary of IFPTA for many years, to write a few words about him. I am sure you will find his contribution very moving.

Remembering Buddy Greene

One of the greatest blessings in our life has been getting to know Buddy and Pat Greene. We lost Buddy on September 14th and he will be missed by a mountain of people who got to know him over a long and successful career at Cooper /T. Smith.

Buddy loved the IFPTA and he loved the shipping community. As soon as you met Buddy you quickly learned that he knew more about our industry than anyone you would ever meet. He could tell you exactly what kind of productivity you could make on any carrier’s ship with just about any commodity.

How did he know all this? . . . because he did it!

Buddy was also a whiz with numbers and could calculate so quickly it would make your head spin. It did not matter whether you were a shipper, a carrier, a producer, a forwarder or a competitor. He just liked people and they liked him.

Getting to know Buddy and Pat over the many decades of Transport Symposiums he made you feel like family because for him, you were.

Buddy led the IFPTA as President through some good and bad times, but never faltered in his commitment of how important the Association was for our industry. At that time, relationships were everything, and as soon as you met Buddy you were in a relationship.

We are going to miss his great sense of humor and wonderful laugh. We are going to miss his amazing depth of knowledge about our industry and his tremendous loyalty to the IFPTA. Mostly, we are going miss a very special man who touched many hearts in the best possible way.

Thank you Buddy for your leadership, friendship, loyalty and the feeling of family. Thank you Pat for sharing Buddy with us. We all send our deepest sympathies and love.

Scott & Susie Menzies