Manitou Crew, a fabrics dealing with apparatus supplier with world succeed in, is mourning the new passing of Marcel Braud, Honorary Chairman and Founding father of the Manitou forklift truck, who passed on to the great beyond Tuesday, February 3, 2026, on the age of 93.
Pushed through a zeal for innovation, business, the broker community and the crowd’s merchandise—and serving as chairman till 2017—Marcel Braud reworked a circle of relatives trade into a world benchmark for subject material dealing with, aerial paintings platforms, and earth-moving apparatus.
The lifetime of Marcel Braud is a tale of a future tied to the land and to ingenuity, the crowd shared within the announcement of his passing. Fatherless on the age of 13, he joined the circle of relatives trade, BRAUD MÉCANIQUE GÉNÉRALE, on the request and through the aspect of his mom, Andrée Braud, following Global Struggle II. Beginning as a laborer, then a painter, welder, assembler, and foreman, Marcel Braud held and mastered each and every manufacturing function throughout the corporate. In 1958, he imagined the incredible: inverting the format of a farm tractor so as to add a lifting mast and gear steerage. The “Manitou” was once born. The product would evolve and trip the globe, reworking development websites, farms, and commercial marketplace segments.
Braud went on to carry more than a few positions throughout the corporate, significantly Workshop Supervisor and Buying Supervisor, earlier than changing into Chairman and CEO in 1970, and therefore Chairman of the Board of Administrators from 2007 to 2017. Underneath his management, the crowd expanded past French borders to export international, went public, persisted to innovate, and constructed a strong broker community.
Jacqueline Himsworth, Chairman of the Board of Administrators of Manitou Crew, mentioned: “My brother devoted his lifestyles to Manitou Crew. Because of him, our small circle of relatives trade was a world chief, known for its merchandise, values, and innovation. He was once a passionate guy who shared his power and satisfaction in belonging to our staff with everybody. He possessed that uncommon genius for expecting the wishes of execs. We’re dropping a visionary, however his entrepreneurial spirit continues to lead our path. Marcel-Claude Braud, Sébastien Braud, and Emilie Braud, board individuals of Manitou Crew, sign up for me in sharing our profound grief.”
Braud persisted to often consult with the crowd’s factories and world business presentations thru early 2026 to stick involved with shoppers and staff, the crowd shared.
“Marcel Braud was once an bizarre guy and entrepreneur,” added Michel Denis, staff president & CEO. “All the way through the many years spent on the head of the crowd, he created remarkable merchandise, reports, and answers with satisfaction and perseverance, and in doing so, contributed considerably to converting the day-to-day lives of hundreds of thousands of execs in development, agriculture, and business. It’s to him that we owe the ‘giant circle of relatives’ tradition that continues to encourage our groups world wide these days. The control workforce and all 6,000 staff sign up for within the grief of his circle of relatives and family members.”
