Page 60 - Rukert - 100th Anniversary

Norman Sr. had a different type of leadership that allowed him to form and leverage strong relationships with city and state officials.
RIGHT: Joe Ey, Rukert Terminals’ Master Electrician, in 1990.
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer; Norm Rukert Jr., President; Bud Nixon, Executive Vice President; and Rick Wolfe and Bill Bienert, Assistant Vice Presidents. The Board also decided that Norm would be relieved of his operational duties and placed in charge of all new construction.
Holiday spirits were dampened somewhat
on Christmas Eve 1980 when Harry Routson Jr. announced his retirement after 48 years of service. Harry, who was Cap’s nephew by marriage, and Norman Sr.’s first cousin, had come to the company as a laborer at Jackson’s Wharf in 1932. After serving three years in the Navy during World War II, he became Superintendent first of Brown’s Wharf, and was later promoted to Superintendent at Lazaretto Terminal for the next 27 years. As he departed, Harry said he was confident that the next generation of family and employees would continue to operate Rukert Terminals with success. He is remembered as a fine leader of men, and one of the most loyal, hard- working employees in the history of the company. John Swain, who had been Harry’s deputy for seven years, was promoted to Superintendent.
In keeping with the family theme, Joseph (Joe) Ey, Harry’s soon-to-be son-in-law would join Rukert Terminals within six months. Harry’s insistence that Rukert hire this talented and dedicated Master
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Electrician would prove to be a gift to the company for the next four decades.
As part of the expansion plan, Rukert Terminals decided to extend the pier at Pier 5. During the planning, Norm spent countless hours trying to convince his father that the new section should include massive crane beams under the
pier to accommodate a future crane. Although containerization was quickly becoming the future, Norm knew that there would always be a demand for a crane to handle bulk products. Adding crane beams would increase the cost of the project by 10 percent, or $150,000. Building it without the beams would mean never being able to retro-fit the pier for a crane. After many meetings trying to persuade
his father that his “gut feeling” was worth the investment, Norm’s argument was to no avail.
Norm and his cousin Bud then brought in an expert pier engineer, Charlie Diver, to try and sway