NEW ORLEANS — The American Rental Association inducted three members into its Hall of Fame at the opening assembly of the recent convention in New Orleans.
Bill Grasse was co-founder of Acme Rents, which eventually evolved into Rental Service Corp., now the industry's second largest rental company. Grasse wrote a monthly column on mechanical subjects for RER called Rentopics for more than 40 years, from 1958 until 1999 and helped RER founder Jim Gartland to make the necessary contacts to found the magazine in 1957. Now retired, Grasse was president of the California Rental Association in 1969 and was a member of the board of directors for CRA from 1960-1972. He was the ARA Rental Man of the Year in 1969.
Multiquip CEO Irv Levine has served in that position since 1972. Levine is known for creating buying programs directly for the rental market and, according to Multiquip's director of marketing and advertising Larry Price: “Multiquip was one of the first, if not the first, company to bypass equipment dealers and sell directly to the rental industry.” Levine created Multiquip's comedy nights for charity, which ran for nearly a decade and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities. Levine received ARA's Special Service Award in 1993 and CRA's James Gartland Award for his contributions to those associations.
Keith Klarin is retired president of All Purpose Rentals, Shrewsbury, N.J., and is still active with Perfect Party Consulting Services, Palm City, Fla. Klarin played a major role in influencing rental companies to add party rentals to their services. Klarin was president of ARA in 1987 and served on its board of directors from 1980-88 and 2000-2001. He received ARA's distinguished service award in 1983.
