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Industry Veteran Jerry Horan Dies At 85 After 57-Year Vending Career

JERRY HORAN HOWELL, MI Jeremiah (Jerry) Horan died here on December 19 at the age of 85. During his long career, he served with a number of leading full-line vending industry manufacturers, distributors and suppliers before retiring four years ago. After active service in the U.S. Army's Artillery branch, Horan attended Loyola University in his native Chicago, where he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and was elected to the Blue Key Honor Society. He got his start in vending in 19...

December 22, 2019 by Tim Sanford

JERRY HORAN

HOWELL, MI - Jeremiah (Jerry) Horan died here on December 19 at the age of 85. During his long career, he served with a number of leading full-line vending industry manufacturers, distributors and suppliers before retiring four years ago.

After active service in the U.S. Army's Artillery branch, Horan attended Loyola University in his native Chicago, where he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and was elected to the Blue Key Honor Society.

He got his start in vending in 1962 when he took a sales position with RC Cola's fountain sales organization. In 1965, he joined Sweetheart Cup Corp., then a leading supplier of hot and cold beverage cups to the fast-growing vending industry. He went on to become  national sales manager at Honor Gard System (Chicago), which had developed a line of locking coin bags for vending equipment. Horan built Honor Gard's sales from zero to more than $1 million annually. In 1985, he joined machine manufacturer Polyvend (Conway, AR) as a regional sales manager, responsible for a 26-state territory.

After a tour as sales manager for American Vending Sales (Elk Grove Village, IL), Horan became vice-president of Signature Sales & Service (Schaumburg, IL) in 2001. He retired seven years later and moved to Michigan in order to be closer to his daughter. A chance encounter in 2010 with VendTek president Tom St. Germain reawakened his enthusiasm for vending, and he became a consultant with the Wixom, MI-based equipment distributor. In this position, his many years of experience proved extremely valuable, the company noted. He formally retired from VendTek in 2016.

"Jerry was always quick with a story or some advice for anyone who needed it," St. Germain recalled, adding that  in recent months, Horan had said that he was especially proud of all the relationships he had made along the way, and was very optimistic about the future of the industry.

Horan is survived by his children Albert, Jeremiah Jr., Christopher, Dawn, Condon and Sean, and   fourteen grandchildren. Funeral services will be held on January 4th at St. Joseph Church in Howell. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the Knights of Columbus, Howell.

About Tim Sanford

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Tim Sanford is the retired, long-time editor of Vending Times.

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