February 2003
Jack T. Lawson was the son of Edward and Mae Lawson from Newton, New Jersey. He is one of ten (10) children, seven (7) sisters and two (2) brothers. Jack attended Newton High School and Mountclair State College where he earned his teaching certification.
He enlisted in the United States Marine Corp. where he received diesel training at Camp Jejune North Carolina. He also spent time overseas in Okinawa. He was on the Honor Guard in Washington D.C. and was honorably discharged.
He married his high school sweet heart. They just celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary this past December. They have two (2) children, Jack E. Lawson, age 29, an engineer for Ford Motor Company in charge of worldwide parts distribution and a daughter, Heather, age 20, attending her junior year at Queens College. He also helped to raise two (2) Korean sisters Terry and Tami from ages 3 and 2. Terry is now age 33 and Tami age 32. Jack, his wife and daughter currently reside in Bay Terrace.
Jack started his career at Condit Motor, a Ford dealer in Newton New Jersey. He started working part time while on leave from the Marine Corp. After his discharge he was hired full time as a mechanic, where he worked for nineteen (19) years. During those years Jack obtained his teaching certification and taught briefly diesel and automotive at Bergen County Vo-tech in New Jersey. He was promoted to Service Manager and a year later to General Service Manager. He also won mechanic of the year from Ford Motor Company and received an all expense paid trip to Spain.
At that time he won mechanic of the year he also won mechanic of the month ten (10) times in the same year. He developed an internship program with Ford Motor Company, enhancing student's skills and prepares them for future employment. This program has been expanded to cover the entire country.
In 1982 he was hired by Roger Penske to manager his nationwide breakdown center (SOS) for Penske Truck Leasing. Jack developed this department into the most sophisticated in the industry. He also designed and implemented the Detroit Diesel Series 60 Customer Assistance. This is a 24-hour per day, 365 days per year hotline and is still in operation in Reading, PA.
In 1993 he was recruited by the New York City Emergency Medical Services as Director of the Motor Transport Division. In March of 1996 The Emergency Medical Services merged with the New York City Fire Department. Jack was retained as Director of Fleet Maintenance. In 1998 he transferred to the New York City Department of Transportation as Director of Fleet Services. The Department of Transportations fleet is one of the larger and most diverse fleets among city agencies. The Department's fleet is currently in excess of 2700 units. In addition Fleet Services maintains slightly less than 1000 pieces of horticultural equipment such as chain saws, brush cutters and other tools powered by small engines. He also manages a staff of 177 employees, thirteen (13) shops through the five boroughs and maintains a budget of over fourteen (14) million dollars. All three of these agencies are the largest in the world.
Meetings
Wednesday, Feb 15 2012
Koenig’s Restaurant
86 South Tyson Ave.
Floral Park, NY 11001
For directions, click here.
Cocktail Hour at 6 PM - 7 PM
Dinner and Meeting at 7 PM
Members - $35 Guests - $45
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