This past July, Charles H. “Charlie” Sutton, an executive within the fluid power industry for many years, died at the age of 92. Born in Galesburg, Illinois, on March 4, 1925, Mr. Sutton worked at a variety of jobs until 1949, when he was hired as a field buyer for the Massey-Harris Co., which manufactured the T99-E1 155mm howitzer vehicle for the Korean war. Sutton was responsible for locating and qualifying new sources of supply, raw materials, finished machined parts, subcontractors, support tools, and services.
Charlie Sutton
In 1951, he was hired as a sales engineer for The Weatherhead Co. to develop and direct OEM business, an area in which the company had little success at the time. Sutton later joined Imperial Eastman and its successors in a career that lasted more than 30 years. During that time, he held a variety of management positions, including manager of new product development, general manager of Imperial Eastman de Mexico, group special assignment in London, sales manager of the OEM Div., general manager of the Bruning Div., and vice president of international sales.
He was a long-standing member of SAE and participated in a variety of post-graduate educational seminars, including the Syracuse University School of Management, SMEI Field Sales Management Institute, Illinois Institute of Technology Industrial Hydraulics, Milwaukee School of Engineering, and Temple University.
The family suggests memorials be made to the Smile Train, the Alzheimer’s Association, or a Fluid Power educational institution of the reader’s choice.
