Frank Labarbera is retiring after 40 years with Westchester Tractor.

Frank Labarbera recently announced his retirement as a sales consultant with Westchester Tractor in Brewster, N.Y.

Labarbera first joined Westchester Tractor as an outside sales rep in 1983, shortly after receiving his degree from SUNY Cobleskill. At that time, Westchester Tractor was located in Goldens Bridge, N.Y., and was primarily a Ford tractor dealership; its primary construction item was Ford tractor loader backhoes.

There were a few hiatuses where Labarbera worked for other dealerships, but the vast majority of his career was spent as a sales rep of Westchester Tractor. By the early '90s, Labarbera was working in inside sales, and by the end of his career he returned once again to managing a territory for Westchester Tractor in primarily Westchester County and Rockland County in New York.

A lot has changed with Westchester Tractor during the 40 years that Labarbera served with the company.

"Besides moving the company to a beautiful new facility in Brewster, N.Y., the product offerings changed significantly from when I originally joined and we were basically a Ford tractor dealership. For the last few decades, we have offered Kobelco, New Holland, Bandit, Kawasaki/Hitachi and Kubota, and we are always adding new lines like the Avant mini loader that was recently added to our product offerings."

When asked about what he would miss most in retirement Labarbera replied, "The camaraderie, especially at the dealership. Walking through the doors of this place every morning, there is literally no one that I didn't want to see. Not a single person in the place that I didn't want to share a cup of coffee with and catch up on how their evening or weekend went.

"But I'm also going to miss a lot of my customers, many of whom I've know since I was a kid. For many of my customers I've developed the type of relationship where I am their exclusive equipment sales representative. Meaning, when they are in the market for a piece of equipment, I'm the first guy and many times the only guy they call. Of course, you don't get that kind of relationship with the customers without having a great support team behind you. The guys in the service and parts departments generally made me look pretty good."

Labarbera is looking forward spending time at his home in the Adirondacks of New York State, where he spends a lot of time enjoying the great outdoors, particularly during the winter season riding snowmobile with his children and grandchildren. CEG

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