Peter Cowin Inducted into the ARBA Hall of Fame
We are excited to announce that Peter Cowin was inducted into the Alabama Road Builders Association Hall of Fame (ARBA). The annual ceremony was held on October 24, 2019, at the Wynlakes Country Club, in Montgomery, Alabama. This year’s inductees included Randall Jack Billingsley, Perry A. Hand, H. Ben Mathews, and our former President and Chairman, Peter G. Cowin.
The Alabama Road Builders Hall of Fame, “honors, preserves, and perpetuates the outstanding accomplishments and contributions of individuals and companies/institutions that have brought and continue to bring significant recognition to the State of Alabama in the field of transportation construction.”
Each year, the ARBA membership nominates industry leaders past and present who inspire others to “pursue rewarding and challenging careers in all transportation construction fields.” The Hall of Fame board of directors, which is representative of most geographic areas in Alabama, then designates those nominees who are to be inducted in a given year.
Birmingham native, Peter G. Cowin (1931- 2004) was the former President and Chairman of Cowin Equipment Company, Inc., and an Associate member of ARBA for many decades. Peter entered the family business in Birmingham in 1953 and formed a strong management and sales team. Those “great co-workers might have joked that he knew a whole lot more about a balance sheet than a backhoe” because of his degree in economics earned at Oberlin College in Ohio. Peter greatly “appreciated the company’s customers and felt a profound obligation to earn their business by supporting them as well as possible.”
Peter was a champion and supporter of civil liberties at a time in Alabama when that wasn’t always a popular cause. He was also a generous donor, which led to him creating a charitable foundation to best support a variety of local charities.
As the Cowin Equipment Company, Inc. legacy in the machinery distribution business continues in its 81st year, we celebrate Peter Cowin’s induction into the ARBA Hall of Fame and his example of excellence and charity.