In Memoriam: Millard J. Marcel

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our friend and associate, Millard J. Marcel, Senior Vice President of Louisiana Operations, who lost his battle with cancer on September 22, 2015.

Millard joined Scott-Macon Equipment in 1997, after working for approximately two decades in field service with a focus on large crawler cranes. After growing up in the Houma-Terrebone Louisiana area, Millard started working as a Crane Mechanic for Santa Fe Offshore Construction, after which he worked on pedestal-mounted cranes with Applied Hydraulic Systems and on a wide range of cranes for Gulf Island Fabrication. From there, Millard joined Dayton-Scott Equipment to service its large crawler crane fleet across the United States. When Dayton-Scott was acquired by Lampson International he continued to travel extensively to service Lampson’s fleet until he joined Scott-Macon Equipment.

Allan Woodruff, Executive Vice President of Scott-Macon Equipment, remembers when the firm first discussed the opportunity with Millard, “We took notice of Millard’s outstanding people skills, crane knowledge and customer focus when he was at Dayton-Scott. When we heard he wanted to spend more time at home in Louisiana, we saw this as an opportunity to better meet the needs of our Louisiana customers. Millard saw it as a chance to continue doing what he loved with the added benefit of being closer to his family and friends in Houma, something which had been hard to do with the extensive travel required in his prior positions.”

Initially hired as Scott-Macon’s Service Representative in Louisiana, Millard’s extraordinary talents were quickly recognized and he was promoted to Branch Manager. He worked tirelessly in building the company’s first Louisiana branch from scratch. Over the next seven years, Scott-Macon’s presence in Louisiana grew as Millard put together an outstanding sales, service and parts team in Houma. With his success, the company soon outgrew its initial location and moved to a larger facility with 10 acres. Concurrently, Millard was busy establishing branches first in Baton Rouge and then Lake Charles. Millard’s outstanding work was recognized when he was promoted to Vice President of Louisiana Operations with responsibility for the management of all Louisiana branches. In 2015, he was promoted again to Senior Vice President, reflecting his significant contributions to the company and its customers.

Bob Dimmitt, Senior Managing Director of Scott-Macon Equipment, commented “Millard’s accomplishments were of no surprise to those of us who had worked with him for nearly two decades. He truly was a people person and loved building his team and working with his customers. If you were a customer of Millard’s, you knew that Millard would do all in his power to deliver outstanding service to you. Coupled with an incredible in-depth knowledge of cranes and high ethical standards, Millard led by example and was highly respected by his co-workers, customers, vendors and equipment manufacturers.”

Millard was instrumental in many important crane sales at Scott-Macon including the first Terex Superlift 3800 and the first Terex Roadmaster 9000 to be sold in the United States. He also was involved in the sales of Scott-Macon’s first Terex T340 and CC2400 cranes as well as the sale of its first Tadano/Mantis pedestal-mounted crane. Millard was very passionate about his work and made an extra effort to ensure that the employees were happy as well as the customers.

Millard was a dedicated family man who was always able to balance his demanding career with a relentless focus on spending time with his family and friends. After his family and friends, he was passionate about fishing, hunting and being outdoors. On any typical weekend morning, you could find him on a lake limiting out on speckled trout, in a duck blind with a friend, or at the lease calling turkeys.

Millard was an important member of the management team at Scott-Macon Equipment for nearly two decades. His accomplishments were many and the impact of his leadership and training are, and will be, reflected throughout Scott-Macon’s organization for many years to come. For all of us at Scott-Macon Equipment, our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this difficult time.