The company offered "full oil service" that included
getting the tank in the basement and installing, maintaining and servicing the heating appliances.
As a young man, Don went out with his father while
the process was under way of ripping out the old coal
grates and putting in oil tanks and oil burners.
"When I was a young teenager, I learned how to fix
oil burners," Don said. "I remember Dad would come
home after a couple of cocktails, and he would make
me go down in the basement and take the oil burner
apart and put it back together. When I was a kid, I used
to pull hose and fill up oil tanks. The ticket was easy to
calculate back then because oil cost $.10 per gallon."
In 1950 Reginald Newman expanded the company's
focus to begin servicing commercial and industrial
customers with lubricants, gasoline and diesel fuel.
Reginald's two sons, Don and Reginald B. Newman II,
joined the company in 1954 and 1960, respectively. They
continued the family tradition of growth by broadening
NOCO's product lines and marketing area.
The next move from traditional residential oil heating came during the 1960s with a move into commercial
and industrial No. 6 oil that was distributed to churches
and hospitals and schools. It was at this point that the
company began buying its first large tractor-trailer
vehicles.
In 1964, NOCO expanded its operations to include
service stations. Typical for the time, these were twobay stations with one or two full-service fueling islands.
There was a gradual expansion during the next 20 years
with the number of sites peaking at near 70.
The Second Generation
Takes Over
In 1971 Don and his brother Reg assumed control
of the company. "My dad decided—when my brother
and myself were coming along—that when you are in a
family business and the heirs are capable of running it,
you get the heck out of the way when you turn 65," said
Don. "He did that for us, and I elected to do that for my
two boys, Jim and Mike. I felt you can't have a business
where Pop and uncle go to Florida for half a year and
then want to slip back into the seat and take over again.
It doesn't work."
This period marks notable expansion both in the scale
and breadth of its operations.
At the height of the oil crisis, in 1973, Reg and Don
had the opportunity to take advantage of an industrial
development bond and buy the 33-million gallon Gulf
Oil terminal in Buffalo, N.Y. In 1982, NOCO Home
Heat was formed with the acquisition of Ashland Oil's
home heat business and Akron Oil Corp., which was
expanded in 1985 with the purchase of a 10-million
www.npnweb.com n NPN Magazine
May/June 2013
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