People whose lives were touched by a retired Cummins executive said there will never be another like him.
Friends, Cummins executives, longtime co-workers and community leaders reacted to the Thursday death of Herschel O’Shaughnessey in Columbus.
O’Shaughnessey, 98, had a long career with Cummins beginning in the mid-1960s. He was brought to the company by J. Irwin Miller after the Cummins CEO recruited him from Union Starch, said Mark Levett, who retired from Cummins in 2015 as vice president of corporate responsibility and Cummins Foundation CEO.
“Herschel had something that was very unique. He became the friend and adviser for every CEO and COO that Cummins had,” Levett said. “That goes back to J. Irwin Miller, Henry B. Schacht, Jim Henderson, Tim Solso. He was a personal friend to them and trusted adviser.”
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Henderson, who retired as Cummins’ CEO in 1999, described O’Shaughnessey as an institution.
“He was somebody who prided himself on doing things right, duty, honesty, integrity, caring for others,” Henderson said. “His main strength was he was genuinely interested in people.”
Ed Pence, who retired as Cummins’ vice president of strategic initiatives in January, said O’Shaughnessey took Solso under his wing, for example.
“He was a great adviser and mentor to Cummins leadership, but he didn’t discriminate,” Pence said. “Anyone who came to him for advice, he helped. His great legacy was that he mentored generations of Cummins people. He taught a lot of life lessons along the way.”
Words cannot describe the interest O’Shaughnessey showed in other people, Levett said of his friend.
The Levett and O’Shaughnessey families lived across Washington Street from each other for years.
“The unique thing about Herschel is you could come from any walk of life, and Herschel would be your friend,” he said. “Even people who left Cummins — if you wanted to know about someone who had left Cummins, everyone would say ‘Go ask Herschel,’ “ Levett said.
Describing O’Shaughnessey as having a huge personality, Levett said he attracted people from all levels around the company.
“He knew all the secretaries,” Levett said. “We used to take him to lunch over the past 10 years, and people would come up to us — I wouldn’t remember who they were but they would come up and talk to Herschel, about how he had given a speech that they would always remember, how they gave their son a job. He knew about people’s families, and their children and their grandchildren.”
Jeff Jones, who retired from Cummins as vice president — North American Engine Business and marketing communications, met O’Shaughnessey shortly after arriving at the company in the late 1970s. Then, O’Shaughnessey was in charge of major Cummins events such as national sales meetings and promotions.
“I always felt the reason it appeared easy for him to remember all the family members of everyone was because he really cared about us and our families and careers,” Jones said. “To me, it wasn’t just having a good memory. It was important to him because he sincerely cared about us.”
Jones and Levett each remembered O’Shaughnessey’s focus on customers.
“He had a sign in his office that said, “The customer comes first. If you don’t understand, read again. The customer comes first,” Levett said.
“He took a special interest in those of us who worked directly with customers,” Jones said of O’Shaughnessey. “He listened to our thoughts and ideas about what the company needed to do to win in the marketplace.”
Jones counts himself among the hundreds of people who were mentored by O’Shaughnessey, saying he made those who were being mentored feel like peers.
“He was a mentor and a friend at the same time,” Jones said.
Among the values he espoused were timeless and old-school standards, Jones said. Among those standards were hard work, loyalty, competing ethically and never giving up.
Gethin Thomas, a former Cummins’ executive chef who later opened Henry Social Club downtown, met O’Shaughnessey when at age 78 he still stopping in at the office the engine maker kept for him at company headquarters after his retirement — the only office in the company that didn’t have a computer.
“Every time I would go into his office, no matter how good I was feeling, when I left, I was always feeling better,” Thomas said. “He was always positive. He was a great example of a fantastic way to live your life and inspire people.”
Thomas isn’t sure that O’Shaughnessey knew that Henry Social Club isn’t open for lunches — because he often asked to meet with friends there for lunch, and Thomas would oblige.
“People would come from all over the country to have a birthday lunch with him,” Thomas said, recalling that his birthday was April 1, 1920.
Although O’Shaughnessey was old enough to be Thomas’ grandfather, the two bonded over weekly golf games over the years.
O’Shaughnessey had learned that Thomas’ daughter, who is 12, wants to attend Yale University and had promised that when the time came, he would write a letter on her behalf. When Thomas told him it was a little early, O’Shaughnessey said he would get started on it anyway.
Jeff Baker, who owns Baker’s Fine Gifts and Accessories downtown, said O’Shaughnessey made people feel like a million dollars.
“If you were a friend of Herschel’s, you had a friend for life,” Baker said. “He was the person who knew everybody.”
Baker remembers O’Shaughnessey’s big booming voice telling people, “Good to see you,” while walking downtown.
While Cummins employees referred to O’Shaughnessey as “Herschel” and “Mr. O’Shaughnessey, others affectionately called him “Mr. O” or “Coach,” Pence said.
“He loved being called Coach,” Pence said.
He also loved being married to his wife Mary, who died a decade ago but remained in O’Shaughnessey’s mind and heart.
“He desperately pined when his wife died,” Baker said, describing how O’Shaughnessey would visit the First Presbyterian Church columbarium to visit Mary after her death.
Friends would take O’Shaughnessey out to lunch after he stopped driving. He would ask to drive by First Presbyterian, and then stop and say a little prayer, blow some kisses and then say, “Let’s go,” Levett remembered.
Thomas keeps a voice-mail message he has from O’Shaughnessey, a phone call that was made telling him about Mary’s death.
“He loved her so much,” Thomas said. “It was just inspirational to me.”
O’Shaughnessey came from humble beginnings.
His father was a railroad worker and Herschel was the first member of his family to graduate from high school and from college, using the GI Bill to earn a law degree from Indiana University, his friends said.
He was a Navy veteran, leaving for the service after his college graduation, Levett said.
“He went into the military, was commissioned as a naval officer, came back from basic (training) and married Mary, and the next day shipped out to the Pacific and didn’t come home for three and a half years,” Levett said.
The Rev. Felipe Martinez, First Presbyterian pastor, said every conversation he had with O’Shaughnessey was a history lesson.
“He lived through an incredible period of time, shared stories about the war and his early days in Columbus. He was proud of his community,” Martinez said.
O’Shaughnessey would stop in to visit the church staff, Martinez said.
“He was a delight to know. He would stop by to see his wife, and then come and say hello to me and our staff — have a half-hour conversation,” Martinez said. “He loved his role as a mentor of people in his community. He took pride in his investment and time and effort for people he believed in.”
Describing O’Shaughnessey as a sweet man who offered support and encouragement, Martinez said as a newcomer to the community he was introduced to people by O’Shaughnessey as his pastor and his friend.
“And that was a great compliment,” Martinez said. “He was a devoted husband, a loving father, always learning, always attentive to God. I just feel it’s a loss for the community. It’s a loss for me as a person. I will miss him.”
Funeral arrangements for O’Shaughnessey are pending.
