Lorry firm founder Eddie Stobart dies at 95
pa mediaFamous haulage firm founder Eddie Stobart has died aged 95.
The former boss of the Cumbria-based company, known for its fleet of green and red lorries, died on November 25.
Edward Pierce Stobart was born in Cumbria in 1929 into a farming family.
They first began operations in 1946 as a small agricultural business, specializing in fertilizer distribution and completing contract work for local farmers.
In 1957, he acquired the first Eddie Stobart lorry and the business continued to distribute fertiliser, but expanded after being offered a contract by Imperial Chemical Industries.
getty imagesThe company’s growth accelerated in the 1970s and 80s when his second youngest child, Edward, took over the leadership of the group’s logistics operations – increasing the business’s eight lorries to more than 2,700.
However, after running the business for more than 30 years, he died of a suspected heart attack in 2011, at the age of 56.
Mr Stobart stepped back from the firm in 1980 after selling most of his business interests to invest in an industrial warehouse near Carlisle, where he retired with his wife Nora Boyd.
The company is now branded as Stobart Group and was acquired by Kulina Group in 2021.
Eddy’s fourth child, William Stobart, is currently the Deputy Chief Executive of Culina.
