It is with great sadness that the HRIA offers condolences to the family and friends of Roger Toole after he recently passed away at the age of 75.
Roger was one of the founders of Flexihire in the late 1970’s and continued controlling and growing the business right through till the end of 2007 after the successful sale of the business to the BOC Group.
Roger was well known throughout the Hire Industry and his booming laughter could often be heard at the HRIA’s national annual convention; he was a large presence in the rental industry and was one of the leading figures that ran the ‘Northern Roundup’ which was an off-shoot regional Queensland ‘mini convention’ for the hire companies that couldn’t always get to the national convention.
Roger’s corporate belief was that offering a piece of equipment for hire was the ‘engagement’ process of a relationship and that the ‘marriage’ took place by offering service that kept his hire business and the customer connected for life, an example of this was flying his fleet mechanics out to regional Queensland to perform regular servicing of compaction equipment. Roger was a great man with relationships throughout the rental industry and will be missed but also fondly remembered by many.
Roger also served in 104 Signal Squadron in South Vietnam from 8th April 1968 to 17th July 1968.