People

Cedarapids Inc.

Equipment maker Cedarapids Inc. has awarded Equipment & Systems for Industry Inc. (ESI), Hopkinton, Mass., its Most Important Dealer award, also known as the Eagle Award.

The Iowa-based maker of crushing and conveying equipment, which is now a Terex company, presented the award to ESI at the Associated Equipment Distributors annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif. The award was presented by Cedarapids president William McClane to ESI president Les Bebchick and vice president Bill Soncrant.

The Massachusetts dealership has won the Eagle Award several times over the past 15 years, and also won a special Top Achiever award for parts sales at the 2002 convention.

Fund established for Excel Employee

A memorial fund has been established for an employee of recycling equipment maker Excel Manufacturing, St. Charles, Minn., who was killed in a traffic accident.

Kelly James Mercer, 33, and his wife, Jodi, 31, were killed in a car-bus accident in mid-February. Mercer’s father and a family friend also died in the accident. The Mercers leave behind three children, ages nine, seven and five.

The Mercers were traveling in a car that collided with a chartered school bus. Passengers on the bus received a variety of injuries, but there was no additional loss of life.

According to Excel’s Jeffrey Van Galder, Kelly Mercer was a long-time employee of Excel who rose to shop formean. "His pride, expertise and commitment to quality led to his being featured in a company advertising campaign highlighting his skills," Van Galder noted.

The memorial fund has been established as the Mercer Family Fund at Merchant’s Bank, 1130 Whitewater Avenue, St. Charles, Minn., 55972.

In Memorium

Charles Zalev, long-time chairman and then chairman emeritus of Zalev Metals Inc. and Zalev Bros. Ltd., Windsor, Ontario, Canada, passed away in late February. He was 96.

Under his leadership, Zalev Bros. grew to become one of the Detroit area’s leading scrap processing facilities and a pioneer in both cold briquetting and hot briquetting of iron-bearing scrap. Charles was also a founding member of the Canadian Association of Recycling Industry (CARI) in 1941.

The Zalev Bros. facility in Windsor still operates as a unit of Ferrous Processing & Trading Co., Detroit. Those Charles Zalev is survived by include his sons Dean and Max, who both previously served as officers of Zalev Metals.