I spoke briefly to Kenny Lund of the Allen Lund Company brokerage, based in California, a couple weeks back and learned of the passing of his father, who got his own start in brokerage when he opened an office for then-small produce broker C.H. Robinson in Salt Lake City. For Allen Lund, born in 1940 and who passed at the age of 77 on April 7 this year, that start itself followed a childhood on the truck with his own father doing cross-country furniture-van moves, hiding under blankets in the sleeper as they crossed scales (safe from the prying eyes of insurance-company “spies” known to hang out on the roads looking for policy violators) and, eventually, learning to take the wheel himself.
Allen Lund, Sept. 3, 1940-April 7, 2018His enterprising spirit led him eventually to start his own brokerage in the 1970s, and it’s been among the most successful in the nation lo these last 40-plus years, with a reefer division specialized in produce but also with dry van and flatbed loads, and satellite offices around the nation employing well more than 400 people directly and facilitating 100s of thousands of loads with truckers annually.
Allen Lund told his early-years story, and more, in a recent-years talk delivered at a meeting of the Transportation Intermediaries Association — you can access a video of that talk via a new memorial site with pictures of Lund, video from his funeral services, the TIA talk and more at this link. For anyone who knew Lund personally through the years, or had a relationship with his brokerage in business, I imagine it might bring back a few memories. More at this link.
