Written on: July 31, 2024 by ICM
Heating industry icon Don Craft passed away on July 27 at the Jack Byrne Center for Palliative & Hospice Care at Dartmouth Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Lebanon, NH, surrounded by his five loving children and stepson.
CRAFT
Craft was born on January 19, 1935, in White Plains, NY, and spent his childhood there and in New Rochelle, growing up during the Great Depression.
He started his career in Washington, D.C., at the Technical Material Corporation as the Director of Marketing. He then moved to New Haven, CT, and joined Wyatt Incorporated where he worked as Executive VP of Sales & Marketing for 33 years.
Craft truly loved what he did and proudly continued to work until he was nearly 80 years old. During the second chapter of his career, he served as Director of Mergers & Acquisitions and Director of Industry & Legislative Affairs for Star Gas Partners, VP of Marketing & Strategic Development in the Energy Lending Department at Citizens Bank, Director of Business Development at Global Partners, and last as Director of Marketing Development at Gulf Oil.
Additionally, Craft was a member of the Heating Fuels Committees of the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, now known as the Energy Marketers of America (EMA), the Pennsylvania Petroleum Association (PPA) and the Empire State Petroleum Association. He also served as a member of the Boards of Directors of the National Association of Oilheat Research and Education (NAORE), the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association (CEMA), the Massachusetts Oil Heat Council, the Oil Heat Institute of Rhode Island, the New Jersey Fuel Merchants Association, and the Oil Heat Institute of Long Island. In addition, he was President & Chairman of the New England Fuel Institute (NEFI) and a member of the NEFI Education Foundation. He was also President of the Independent Connecticut Petroleum Association in 1970-71, and a founding board member of the National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA).
He received many awards over his career including the Energy Marketers of America’s Distinguished Service Award in 2004, the industry’s highest honor.
To view Craft’s full obituary, Click Here.
