How I will remember my friend, Bill Fogarty...

• As perhaps the most well known and respected agricultural journalist throughout the industry, worldwide...
• As a fighter, a grappler...in his own straight-forward manner, many of the challenges he has proposed to the industry will stand it in good stead for years to come...
• As a caring, humble, articulate gentleman with a strong and loving wife, Mary, a wonderful family, and so many friends and acquaintances across the globe...
• And finally, Bill will be remembered by yours truly as a genuine, so-often humorous, all-around good guy...and in his case, a most difficult act to follow.

—Jim Rank, Farm Equipment

I knew Bill for over 35 years and he and I were in regular competition to see who “scooped” the other. Bill was a good friend and I will miss him.

His true icon was the farm equipment retailer. Every article he wrote was devoted to one subject — helping that dealer come more proficient and profitable. Bill Fogarty can only be remembered as a true friend to this industry.

—Robert Schnell, Executive V.P., Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association

Meeting the seasoned Bill Fogarty as a rookie technical editor at a press release function back in the 1970s was an educational exercise for me. While I’d be gathering the technical material I believed would be of interest to our readers of Farm Equipment Quarterly, the Canadian dealers’ magazine, I’d also watch what Bill did, somewhat in awe of the respect he drew from all the big tractor companies’ brass.

To his colleagues in the press, he was never intimidating, though. He was very approachable, and when he found I had some appreciation of jazz, he was a treat: he was a fan who was truly “fanatic!”

My most memorable moment of Bill illustrates well how he could cut to the point: at a “marketing round-table” discussion at a Farm Equipment Manufacturers’ Association meeting one executive boasted that he could get plenty of “free publicity” simply by sending out press releases, so he didn’t need to advertise. Bill challenged him on this because, even though he would be impartial and objective in his reporting, he wanted this individual to know that it is advertising revenue that pays the bills at the publication and that if his publication was to survive to carry his “free message,” someone would have to be helping to pay his salary!

Bill will be missed by the industry at large as well as by his colleagues in the press. We offer our deepest condolences to his family.

—Peter Darbishire, editor, Peter Phillips, publisher, Top Crop Manager magazine, Exeter, Ontario, Canada

Over the past years Bill and I sometimes enjoyed long discussions speculating on the many possibilities for the future of the Ag industry, he an advocate of the dealer and I for the supplier. Bill always had a passion for this business that did not decline with his advancing years.

Bill Fogarty will be missed.

—Rusty Fowler, Krone NA, Inc., Memphis, Tenn.

Bill Fogarty’s smiling one-line pension plan was to: “Stay on someone’s payroll for as long as I possibly can...” And so he did.

I first met Bill Fogarty in Orlando, Florida during what he referred to as “another media junket” in 1996.

Some junket: 7000 people from 140 countries all in one location for the launch of a new range of equipment for New Holland. Bill and I were part of a coach-load of international media hacks along to record the occasion. We formed an easy friendship that endured until Bill’s recent death.

Up and down the hemispheres, we became regular correspondents and world experts on everything from global politics through macro economics to most importantly, film and literature.

He sent me regular Fogarty reviews before new works had filtered down to Australia. I sent back occasional cuttings and books that I thought might interest him.

Thanks to my nagging about the need to visit Australia, one day Bill jetted in via New Zealand with his wonderful wife Mary K. and the pair spent a fantastic week or so as tourists harbour-side in Sydney.

I smiled at the ease with which the septuagenarian Bill graduated from faxed letters bashed out on an old Remington in his basement office in Leawood, Kansas, to new fangled e-mails dispatched at lightning speed from a publisher-supplied and installed pc.

I admired the absolute professionalism of Bill’s work and enjoyed particularly his clear values and outlook on life. Above all, he remained a most inquisitive, positive and insightful human being. As an Australian, I particularly enjoyed Bill’s sense of irony and what I saw as his gentle larrikinism.

He was mostly self-effacing about his work as a humble farm machinery scribe. But I knew him as a great professional; a man whose reputation and presence was universally respected by industry leaders and by journalistic peers.

I’ve been missing that presence since illness forced a closure earlier this year to almost a decade of communication.

—Mike Cahill, Sydney, Australia

Bill Fogarty was a name I became familiar with almost immediately after jumping into the publishing industry some 19 years ago. While many stories like the trips to France, Germany and Italy come to mind the one that I will always remember involves a couple of glasses of beer.

The challenge back then was to build Farm Equipment magazine into the # 1 magazine serving farm equipment dealers in North America. Looking at the competition it was apparent to me that the best way to get the job done was to develop the best content. The best way to develop the best content was to hire the best journalist we could find. Bill Fogarty was the best in the business and as such the best man for the job. When I brought the subject up at Johnson Hill Press I was told to “go and do it.”

Bill and I met in an Irish pub in Boston during a NAEDA meeting. After ordering his favorite dark beer and something a bit lighter for me, we got straight to it. I explained my plan for Farm Equipment and that I wanted him to help me do it. Much to my surprise, Bill said he was very interested in being part of our team. He said that he felt it was time for a change and that if it was just himself “he would take the job today.”

Well Bill talked to Mary and within a few short weeks Bill Fogarty came to Farm Equipment magazine. Many years later Bill remarked of me, “not many people at that (61 years) age are offered such a great opportunity to do the work they like the most.”

I shall never forget the boost he gave me in this business. Certainly Bill Fogarty is a significant contributor to the success I have enjoyed in this industry. Bill Fogarty will be missed but not forgotten.

So long to a great mentor and friend.

—Rich Reiff, President, Cygnus Business Media

I had the good fortune to meet Bill Fogarty in September, 1972 while he was Editor of Implement & Tractor magazine.

I submitted several story ideas for his approval and his answer was swift. “Get them in here!”

That first article brought with it a check for $80.00! Bill advised me that the payment would have been bigger if the article had been better. He always did have a way with words!

Over the next few years Bill published several articles I had written about dealers and agricultural marketing in Kentucky and Tennessee.

One memorable response to a submission was, “I don’t normally pay this much for an article, but I had a hole to fill this month and this one fit perfectly.”

Bill Fogarty was a huge influence in our agricultural equipment industry and he had a knack for printing the most current information and very sage advice.

I count it an honor to have known him for these past 32 years and know that he helped me to understand that there is a deeper meaning than the obvious facts. “Get the real story!”

—Charlie Glass

In the farm equipment business there are people who watch those companies and cover the industry for specific markets. Farmers seldom see their bylines, but those of us who cover the business know them well. An icon in the industry, Bill Fogarty passed away in September but his passing should not go unnoticed.

Fogarty covered, poked, prodded and inflamed the farm equipment business for 46 years first at Implement & Tractor magazine and later at Farm Equipment — both publications for farm equipment dealers.

After he officially retired, he became Editor Emeritus at Farm Equipment which he said was latin for “same work, less money” but he found that he couldn’t turn off his inquisitive mind or disconnect from an industry he loved so much. This jazz fan who often disappeared to Soho clubs on trips to London, was also a lover of art films and other fine things. He was one of this industry’s great characters that farmers probably never heard of, but he did plenty to help dealers thrive — which helped rural communities too.

Bill and I worked together on and off over the past 18 years — and even were competitors for a time. His candor, his no-nonsense take on issues and his work in the industry will be missed.

—Willie Vogt, Corporate Editorial Director, Farm Progress, as it appeared in his “FarmerIron” column

As editors of publications that competed aggressively for advertising dollars, Bill Fogarty was what you might term, my best friend.

Time and time again we helped each other with magazine editorial content. For instance, should either of us be faced with camera malfunctions while both were covering the same industry event, we automatically shared our photos with each other. If, for instance, event notes should be lost or damaged, we each knew the other would fill us in on what happened.

At industry meetings, Fogarty and I always shared side-by-side, front row chairs while attending those news making functions. We made certain not to duplicate each other’s angles for photos. We were together, but we kept our coverages different.

Bill and I would hold our own little, two-man industry meetings whether at Farm Equipment Industry, Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association, Farm Equipment Wholesalers or National Farm and Power Equipment get togethers.

Bill and Mary Fogarty and my wife and I were privileged to accompany New Holland dealers on several of their international dealer award trips.

Even after I retired from my editorial slot back in 1979, Bill and I continued our friendly relationship through numerous phone calls, letters, personal visits and later by email. So the loss of Bill Fogarty was almost like the loss of someone from my immediate family.

We went through many industry ups and downs together. And I can truthfully say that all I know about jazz, I learned from Bill Fogarty, a jazz fan from “way back.”

Knowing Bill was good for me personally and for the industry we served

—Glenn Hensley, Kirkwood, Mo., retired from Farm & Power Equipment magazine

In his foreword to my book, Managing Iron Salespeople, Bill Fogarty uses a line I had heard him say several times - “It’s sales management, Dummy!” He understood the concept of the Ag Equipment Consultant I was advocating and he encouraged me.

We often had breakfast together whenever I was in Kansas City. He would enlighten me on the Ag Equipment business through his unique perspectives. He wrote an article, “Breakfasts With Frank” in which he praised my thinking. Actually, I got much more out of those breakfasts than he did.

It was obvious to me that he loved this industry and, while pining for some of the past, he embraced the future. The years ahead will prove how right his thinking was.

I miss Bill and I miss our breakfasts.

—Frank Lee, President, Sales Academy, Inc., International Ag University, Flower Mound, Texas

We’re proud to have known and read Bill Fogarty for many of his forty-six years as, by far, the most provocative and insightful writer/editor in our industry. We always looked forward to visiting at dealer conventions, kept in phone contact between those events, and considered it a special honor when Bill visited our dealership or recognized us in his magazine (I & T’s 100th, and others).

We knew and greatly respected Bill as an enthusiastically professional writer. We also knew of his love for jazz and suspected, rightly so, that Bill maintained a close circle of family and friends. Until the obituary in the Kansas City Star we were not aware of Bill’s significant involvement in civil rights. We’re certainly not surprised, only more impressed and more fortunate to have known Bill.

He made a positive difference to so many lives.

—Ray Koenig, Koenig Equipment, Inc., Anna, Ohio

Thanks to Bill, we all got a real good insight to market changes, trends and other things. We all felt comfortable with his advice, which was always meant to be just a guiding point.

—Tom Jackson, Melton Brothers Inc. Jonesboro, Ark.

While I never had the honor of meeting Bill, I certainly admired him. My father and I will surely miss his articles. At times, it sounded like I was listening to myself.

Many thanks to Bill for his great contributions to our industry.

—Jeffrey Dugan, Maple Mountain Equipment

Bill Fogarty was a good friend for over twenty years, maybe twenty five! We would meet up at various shows and on certain farm machinery company tours. On one occasion I met his wife Mary at the Paris Show and send her my personal condolences. On my only trip to the U.S. (with 400 Press invited by Deere) I had just checked into my room at the Washington Hilton hotel when my phone went and it was Bill on the line!

Bill lived through the many growth stages of farm machinery design, manufacture and distribution — probably the best of them all. Writing, as I did, for the dealer trade, he appreciated the pressures of the family dealership firm that struggles to make a living against the odds. Some do this well, others less so.

Bill was an example to many in the media in that he took what life offered him without complaint if it was little, but with generous thanks if it was a freebie trip or international dinner. He has left a hard act to follow and many friends sad that he has gone.

God Bless you, Bill.

—Richard Lee, consultant to Tractor & Farm Machinery Trader, Essex, United Kingdom 

My name is David Kahler and I am the Executive Vice President/CEO of the Ohio-Michigan Equipment Dealers Association and the Ohio Equipment Distributors Association. I was very pleased when the Farm Equipment Magazine decided to allow Bill Fogarty’s Industry friends to “Share Their Fogarty Memories”.

I have been with the Associations for over 36 years. During that time I became a very close friend of Bill Fogarty, not because of what I have done for the Industry but because Bill Fogarty always wanted to keep the pulse of the Industry. I know over the years Bill became very close to several Association managers. In Bill’s early years he wrote and edited for the Implement and Tractor magazine and in the later years for the Farm Equipment magazine. His abilities to stay on top of the latest news within the Industry were absolutely unbelievable. It seemed like during Bill’s prime, I was talking with him by phone at least once a month. His phone call would always start out.... “Well Kahler, what’s the latest news in Ohio and Michigan?” Forty minutes later, he had extracted many things from me and more importantly, some that I didn’t think I would ever say. Bill had a tremendous ability to “Tell it like it is” no matter who was at fault, or whose feelings it may hurt. That’s what made Bill so special over the years. I can still remember that in 1985 we invited Bill Fogarty to speak at our Dealers Convention in Ohio. He had the attendees in the palm of his hand as he gave the Industry update. Over the years, when you couldn’t find an answer...just give Bill a call, he probably already had it.

In my 30 plus years of working with Bill Fogarty, I do know one fact. That fact is that Bill’s death on September 6, 2004 will leave a void in the Power Equipment Industry that will be very, very, hard to fill if it can be filled at all. Bill, you’ll truly be missed.

—David L. Kahler, Executive Vice President/CEO, Ohio-Michigan Equipment Dealers Association 

Yes, I certainly do remember Fogarty. He was a friend of mine. I was a Rep for many years living in Belvidere, Illinois and traveling Illinois and Wisconsin, as a Rep. I also was a sales manager for the old Allied Farm Equipment, out of Chicago, at one time the largest wholesale distributor of short line farm equipment in North America.

Bill was in many meetings with me over the years and I always enjoyed his company. He was always interesting to talk to and had the interest of the industry at heart.

The industry has lost a friend and a colleague of the first order. I will miss him.

—Dick Irwin, Leesburg, Fla.

It is with sadness that I was informed about the passing of Bill Fogarty in September past. While I never met Bill personally, I feel the loss as a true friend and mentor.

With 45 years in the Equipment business myself, I have read his words of wisdom many times in Implement & Tractor and later, in Farm Equipment, at which time your publisher at the time, Richard Reiff welcomed Bill to your magazine.

When Mr. Reiff asked Bill to move to FE, Bill’s question was “can we have some fun?” He then followed up with “To me the big things we do in life, raise a family, sell implements or put out a magazine, have to be fun or why bother?” His philosophy must have worked because in that time he certainly must have helped to increase the readership of your periodical.

I could not begin to recite the countless articles I have read over the years, but I marvel in reflection, the common thread of wisdom that was imparted by such a writer. He seemed to know and impart such common sense to all facets of the industry from the Manufacturer, the Distributor, the Dealer right down to the end user be he a farmer or urban owner.

One of the significant characteristics I saw in this writer and industry annalist was that even though he had been in the business for many years, he never allowed himself to become obsolete, always being able to give a thought-provoking look at the future. Over the years, I have seen dealers allow themselves get in a time warp — not changing, even though the world around them changes whether they like it or not. I would hope if nothing else, Bill’s writings would have contributed to some dealers being around today because of him.

Bill Fogarty was an icon of the Industry and his passing will certainly be missed but not forgotten.

Thank you for allowing me to show my respects for a servant to this industry.

—J. William Seaman, Moncton Sales Consultant, Bremner Farms Ltd, Napan, NB, Canada

As a young man at International Harvester Co, on Michigan Ave in Chicago during the early 70’s, Bill Fogarty came to my first Press Conference for a Program Launch of the then XL Dealer program. For someone who had just turned 30 to meet with Bill and submit to questions was thought to be akin to the worst final you took in college, because Bill was so well versed in all aspects of the Ag Industry.

Right on cue he started with the tough questions of anti-trust impact, sustainability over time, consistency of application etc. and that was for starters. He asked in his self deprecating manner of “Help me to understand,” and then you knew he had you in his sights. But being the man of great heart, and probably seeing the sweat pouring off me, he helped me with the answer by suggesting positions such as; “What you are proposing actually helps the dealer, doesn’t it?” and “It seems that once dealers understand how this will make them money” and so on.

In the following 30+ years, Bill and I would spend 1-2 hours on the phone 4 to 5 times in a year discussing global agriculture, the accelerating consolidation of production agriculture and equipment producers in the U.S., and always within the context of how it would affect that most important of people, the American and Canadian Farmer.

I have learned a great deal from Bill about this great Industry we serve, I will miss him greatly, and my intent in honoring him is to do the same level of mentoring and helping with others that he did with me. May God bless his soul and legacy that he has given to all of us.

—Richard A. Brown, President/COO, Krause Corporation

I first met Bill on a trip to England in the early 1980’s sponsored by the Agricultural Engineers Association, which is the English farm equipment manufacturers association. There were 6 or 8 U.S. farm equipment distributors, myself, and Bill. We traveled to about 6 or 7 manufacturers, visited their plants and saw their equipment in operation in the field. As we went by bus from plant to plant there was a lot of discussion between the distributors. Bill was very much a participant since he knew the distributors.

The distributors did not necessarily agree with him but respected his opinions. I figured that from all the information I obtained on the trip that I had gotten a master’s degree in farm equipment marketing.

Bill and I joked for years about writing a book on how NOT to market an offshore built tractor in the U.S. We had a certain manufacturer in mind and we felt the book could be the history of that company’s attempts to sell tractors in the U.S. The company continued to make mistakes and we felt that these mistakes provided additional chapters for the book. We never got a chance to write the book.

One year my wife went with me to the EIMA farm equipment show in Bologna, Italy. After one day she had seen enough farm equipment and at dinner that she asked Bill what there was to see in the city. Bill explained to her how to use the bus system, which was unusual since the tickets were sold in small shops and you needed to look for a specific sign that indicated that the shop sold bus tickets. She spent two wonderful days exploring Bologna thanks to Bill’s help.

Bill was always concerned about the relationships between the equipment manufacturers and their dealers. One of his later articles was on the fact that he had discovered some dealers that were actually happy with the tractor manufacturers they represented. Of course he named the manufacturers and I’m sure there were some other manufacturers who said, “that darn Fogarty is shaking the tree again.”

 — John W. Inman

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to write a letter of tribute attesting our affection and respect to the family of Bill Fogarty. It is difficult indeed to find words to express our regret at the passing away of this splendid man.

We were saddened by the news of the death of Bill Fogarty who was a longtime friend and an industry icon. His sudden passing was a great blow to those who knew him.

He was a man of superlatively high standards, complete integrity, and boundless enthusiasm for whatever the task he took in hand. No one, whose privilege it was to know him, is likely to forget the candor and courage of his speech. He never dodged a responsibility, never refused to ask a difficult question if it needed to be done. What he preached, he practiced. What he believed, he believed with heart and soul. Bill visited on a regular basis international trade shows and industry events like the EIMA show in Bologna, Italy and was a frequent speaker at our annual Italian Farm Machinery Convention. Everyone in this industry, worldwide, will miss his genial personality and writing instincts.

His passing leaves a void in our hearts and in the industry that will be difficult to fill. We join in extending to the members of his bereaved family our heartfelt sympathy and may we all find solace in the inspiring memories of the exemplary life of Bill Fogarty.

—Alex Mussa, Assistant Trade Commissioner, Italian Trade Commission

Mention the name Bill Fogarty to anyone who knew him, and that person will have a Bill Fogarty story. Maybe that’s because he always had a story. He edited Implement & Tractor for 35 years, so I always considered him a mentor and sought his advice many times after taking the editor’s job. He could ask me pointed questions that I wouldn’t have answered if they had come from somebody else. Bill was someone I trusted to tell me the truth and to bring any ethereal discussion back down to the basic relevant issues. As a journalist, Bill didn’t hesitate to put people on the spot when he was after answers that he believed his readers needed to know, and he would question what is sometimes spoon-fed to the press. He was never satisfied with only half the story. The industry will miss him. I already do.

—Mary Shepherd, Implement & Tractor

Bill Fogarty was a man who believed in others and, in turn, expected you to believe in yourself, to be straight-forward and to know who you were. He did not hesitate to let you know where he stood on a given situation in regards to the iron industry and life in general.

A great promoter of our industry who was able to foresee the direction our industry was going. He was one-of-a-kind, and I am glad to say I considered him a friend. He will be greatly missed.

—Ralph Parsons, Jr., President, R.L. Parsons & Son ECI, W. Jefferson, Ohio 

In the nearly 40 years of knowing Bill, I found him one of the more interesting characters in our industry. First of all, he dearly loved the equipment industry and everything that went on within it. He was always looking for that special angle for a story that would, and did, keep his articles fresh and interesting. Now I must say he made no bones about being for the dealers and the shortliners! But that never kept us from having good fellowship and good conversations about matters of mutual interest — including his favorite jazz places around the country. He was fun to know and work with over all those years and his contributions will be missed.

—Emmett Barker, Association of Equipment Manufacturers

We lost a great one this year. Bill Fogarty wasn’t just an outstanding journalist. He was an institution. His experience, insight, common-sense approach and well-threaded editorial contributions to the farm equipment channel were legendary...the talk of the trade ...and, as a result, he became without parallel, THE CHAMPION OF THE INDUSTRY.

He was one of those guys who...instantly disarmed you with his unassuming down-home, country-style charm...amazed you with his wealth of knowledge and recall...peppered you with interesting and probing questions during interviews...and in the end, captured the essence of his work both a global and local perspective.

But, the best thing about Bill was simply this: he was a warm, wonderful friend to everyone privileged to have met him É a great guy. I was one of those fortunate few who “recognized” him long before I even “met” him. We will all miss him terribly.

—Connor Flynn, Lessing-Flynn