Erich Sennebogen Sr., the driving force behind Sennebogen Machinenfabrik since 1952 has died at the age of 79 after losing a battle with cancer on March 21, 2011.

Starting in 1952 at the age of 21, with 13 employees, Mr. Sennebogen began building agricultural utility equipment and today, for the last ten years under the direction of his sons Erich and Walter, this global organization with more than 1,000 employees designs and builds hydraulic material handling equipment, rope excavators, cranes, carrier equipment and steel components. It has established manufacturing facilities in Germany and Hungary along with offices and warehousing operations in the United States, Russia, Singapore and Dubai.

In a press release from the company’s head office in Straubing, Germany, he was remembered as an entrepreneur with a “no such thing as can’t” attitude that now empowers their design and engineering teams as well as their distribution and service partners in more than 70 countries.

Mr. Sennebogen had recently received many honors including the Order of Merit of the Republic of Germany, First Class; the Bavarian Order of Merit; the Gold Citizen’s Medal from his hometown of Straubing; Businessman of the Year — Balantonfured, Hungary; and the Lion’s Club Gold Medal of Merit.

Constantino Lannes, president of Sennebogen LLC, located near Charlotte, N.C., in a message sent to a network of dealers and friends said, “The passing of Mr. Erich Sennebogen Sr. saddens all of us that knew him, or just knew of him. Although he was not a man to waste his words, he always had a good word to provide the right amount of motivation for those around him.”

“He was an unbelievable man that started from nothing in 1952 and built up the Sennebogen Group of companies to what we are today.” “I always was fascinated with his ideas and innovation. He understood and was able to combine men and machines in order to optimize results.”