Death comes to everyone. We all learn this as children and we all know that sooner or later everybody dies. However, there are people we meet in the course of a lifetime whose life force seems so great you wonder if they ever will die, as if death would seem reluctant to take on such a vibrant soul.

Such a life force, to me, was Bill Grasse. The list of his accomplishments goes on and on and I won't go into all the details, many of which are mentioned in our obituary on page 16. Grasse's father, Palmer, was one of the rental industry's earliest pioneers, establishing Acme Rents back in the 1930s. The rental industry really developed after the war, when tools and equipment were hard to find and Acme was one of the industry's first major regional prosperous rental companies.

Bill eventually bought the company from his father, along with his siblings, Bob, Don and Peggy. He later sold the company to Ira Mendelsohn in the 1980s, and continued to play a major role as Acme's “goodwill ambassador,” advising Mendelsohn in operations and acquisitions. Acme would go on to become RSC, which of course is now one of the largest and most innovative rental companies in North America, and, in fact, the world. And although RSC has changed and evolved, when you get to know that company, it's not that surprising that the seeds of what later became RSC were planted by Grasse.

Grasse played a major role in the founding of RER as well. Jim Gartland, who founded the magazine, became friends with Grasse, who helped Gartland understand the dynamics of the industry and introduced him to many of its players. The very first issue of RER focused on Grasse's Acme Rents, and Grasse would write a column about maintenance tips for the magazine for 40 years.

But his writing was about much more than equipment. He also wrote about the people he met in the industry, around the United States and around the world. Bill loved to travel to different countries and meet other rental people and loved to host them when they visited the U.S. If you knew Bill at all, chances are you became his friend, and those of you who knew him understand why. He had a quick smile and he was interested in people and something about him always seemed to sense the good in people. He was as generous and giving a human being as you could ever meet. Former RER publisher Tim Novoselski said he was one of the greatest men he has ever known, in rental or any other area of life.