Colleagues Remember NAFA's Gerry Huzar And Michael Flanagan

As reported in our previous edition of FleetFOCUS, two longtime NAFA members passed away in the month of December. Family, friends, and colleagues have since been expressing their loss and memories of Gerry Huzar and Michael Flanagan.

NAFA Member Gerry Huzar passed away peacefully on December 31, 2011 at the age of 61. Huzar had been at Sunnybrook Hospital, Toronto. The cause for his passing is the combination of Burkitt's lymphoma and brain cancer. He was surrounded by his loving family.

Ontario Chapter Affiliate Steve Somers, Director of the Eastern Region for Jim Patterson Lease, expressed his condolences and offered fellow NAFA members an anecdote regarding Huzar. " I have many fond memories of working with Gerry. We would always have the supplier/ customer conversation where he pushed us on innovation and technology. The questions and challenges were always around making us a better provider to his company which ultimate made us a better solution to others. When the business was competed, Gerry would reveal the personal side; someone who loved his family, the various carpentry projects, and his golf game."

Somers continued, "It was one of the first games that I played with him where he produced the first cell phone I had ever seen. It was literally housed and tethered to a brief case and I thought I was playing with James Bond.

"Gerry was a terrific spokesperson for the industry. He believed in fleet management and specifically the role of the Fleet Manager and their significant contribution to their respective employer," Somers said.

Visitation was held on Tuesday, January 3 at the Ogden Funeral Home, Scarborough, ON. Funeral Mass was held at St. Peter and Paul’s Ukrainian Catholic Church on January 4. In lieu of flowers, it was requested that donations be made in Huzar’s memory to the Canadian Cancer Society.

Michael Flanagan, a former Fleet Management, Leasing Executive, and Consultant, passed away on Christmas Eve, 2011, in Kernersville, NC, after a long and difficult illness. Flanagan was a longtime supporter of NAFA and contributor to the fleet industry.

In a remembrance from the Automotive Fleet website, several of Flanagan's co-workers thought back to happier times with him.

"Mike was a ‘car guy’ through and through," recalled Bob Miesen, President of Gambles C&M (later D&K Financial Corp.) when Flanagan worked there.

Miesen recalled his colleague and good friend as "a good man with a big heart. In my years in the industry, I am not sure that I knew another person who loved being a part of it as much as Mike. For Mike, it was about God, family, friends, the fleet and leasing business, and importantly, Mike was unwavering in his loyalty and commitment to all those touchstones in his life. I will miss him."

The full article can be read by clicking here.

NAFA Fleet Management Association
125 Village Blvd., Suite 200
Princeton, NJ 08540

Telephone: 609.720.0882 Fax: 609.452.8004