Former Grove CEO Dies

July 16, 2007 • J. Martin Benchoff, former CEO of Grove Manufacturing, Shady Grove, Pa., died Thursday morning at the age of 80, according to a Chambersburg Public Opinion Online report. He died at his home in Waynesboro, Pa., from complications from Parkinson's disease, according to his obituary.

 
Benchoff began his career at Grove Manufacturing Company in 1954 as a farm wagon salesperson. He went on to become president in 1969, and he later became chairman of the board and then chairman emeritus in 1988. Together with Grove's founders, Benchoff is credited with taking the company from being a small regional producer of farm equipment to being a leader of the international mobile hydraulic crane market, according to his obituary.