COMPANY NEWS
DEPARTMENTS
Cairns & Brother has appointed Thomas Cordell as its first regional sales manager. Cordell, based in the suburban Cleveland, OH, area, will provide in-field coverage for Cairns in the northeast, according to company Vice-President Bill McCutcheon, to whom he reports.
In his new role, Cordell will directly contact fire service and municipal organizations, provide eduational programs on protective equipment, present Cairns’ full product line, and assist with distributor service requirements. He will also be working to help dealers and fire departments find each other where gaps in effective coverage seem to exist.
Cordell previously served as a sales representative for head, ear, and eye protective equipment at American Optical Corp.; for fire-retardant foam suppression systems at 3M; and for fire extinguishers at Ansul, a division of Wormald U.S., Inc.
Angus Fire Armour Corporation has announced the appointment of Wallace Peek as the new regional sales manager serving the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.
Peek began his fire service career by working his way up to chief of a major fire department. He then held a sales position with a major distributor for Angus. He has recently been involved in the sale of fire apparatus to municipal departments.
After more than 30 years of service, Larry M. Bonnafon retired as chief of the Louisville, KY, Division of Fire. Having begun his career as a teenage firefighter, when the minimum age requirement was lowered in 1955 from 21 to 18, Chief Bonnafon noted that he will never retire from the fire service in spirit. He will continue to support the fire service community through his work with various local and national fire service organizations. Chief Bonnafon is the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ vice-president of the Southeast Division of the State of Kentucky; serves on the Kentucky Division of Fire Protection Personnel Standards and Education, a governor-appointed position which maintains a certain level of standard training for all Kentucky firefighters; and is the chairman of the Board of Visitors for the National Fire Academy.
Chief Bonnafon is looking forward to working with the newly appointed fire chief, Russell E. Sanders, a 19-year fire service veteran.
Edward F. Cavanagh, Jr., a former New York City fire commissioner and a deputy mayor, died June 17, 1986, after suffering a stroke.
“Commissioner Cavanagh is remembered by many present and past firefighters as the commissioner who reorganized and modernized the fire department during his eight-year tenure as fire commissioner,” said Assistant Fire Commissioner John Mulligan. Mr. Cavanagh initiated field inspection and public awareness fire prevention programs.
Named fire commissioner in 1954 and appointed deputy mayor in 1962, Mr. Cavanagh became a vice-president of Baker Industries Inc., a subsidiary of the Borg-Warner Corporation, from 1966 to 1971 and a director of Baker from 1966 to 1979.
Mr. Cavanagh earned a B.A. degree at Georgetown University in 1929, studied at Havard Law School and took his law degree from St. Lawrence University in 1933. He then practiced law in the city, served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, and worked as counsel to the Curtiss-Wright Corporation after the war. From 1950 to 1954, he was commissioner of the Department of Marine and Aviation.
