Industrial Tires Ltd. founder Tom Buckley dies

Jan. 18, 2011

Tom Buckley, owner and founder of Industrial Tires Ltd. (ITL) in Toronto, Canada, has died. He was 78.

Under his direction, ITL grew from a localized importer and distributor of tires for material handling equipment into a globally recognized leader in specialty solid tire design and development.

Buckley began his career with the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in the 1950s. He left Goodyear in 1958 to form his own Canadian-based import/distribution company.

In 1965 he signed a technology-sharing agreement with Monarch Rubber Co. (predating Teledyne Monarch) to introduce rationalized manufacture of tires for forklift trucks to Canada.

In 1978, ITL purchased the industrial tire division of the Uniroyal Tire Corp. and expanded direct marketing into the United States. Shortly thereafter, he acquired Teledyne Monarch's remaining shares in ITL and focused on global expansion.

He later formed technical agreements with major European solid tire manufacturing firms such as Gumasol (Gummi-Mayer Corp.) and Vorwerk. Ultimately, his direction led to the installation of a state-of-the-art solid tire manufacturing facility in China.

ITL also marketed specialty compounds adapted to the increasing specialization in the material handling industry and was in the forefront of developing low rolling resistance electric rubber compounds targeting the high populations of electric-powered forklift trucks in the automotive manufacturing community.

Buckley continued to direct the company as its CEO until 1997, when he sold the company to the Cascade Corp.

He is survived by his wife Jean, sons Tab, Sean and Robert, daughter Wendie (James) and their families.