Industrial park renamed in honor of longtime Bennington business leader

By PATRICK McARDLE STAFF WRITER - Published: September 26, 2009

   BENNINGTON — The Bennington County Industrial Corp. renamed a local industrial park in honor of its former president and longtime local business leader Daniel Maneely who died of cancer in January.

   The signs with the new designation, the Maneely Corporate Park at Shields Drive, were unveiled on Sept. 18 during a ceremony at the intersection of Shields Drive and East Road attended by about 75 people.

   Paul Carroccio, president of the industrial corp., called Maneely a "really good guy, a mentor for me."

   Maneely joins one of the founders of the Bennington County Industrial Corp, Hamilton Shields, as a namesake for the park, home to some of the largest industrial employers in Bennington including NSK Steering Systems America and Plasan Carbon Composites.

   The park is comprised of about 80 acres of land that is zoned for industrial use. About half the land has not yet been developed.

   In Bennington, Maneely is best known for his time at a company that was known as Oak Fothergill before eventually being bought out locally and becoming Vermont Composites. Maneely was president of Vermont Composites from 1996 to 2005 and later served as a consultant when Vermont Composites sold its automobile operations to Plasan in 2006.

   Heather Maneely, Daniel Maneely's wife, said she was amazed, honored and surprised when she was told in April that the industrial corporation planned to rename the park. "Dan would just be so incredibly proud," she said. "He worked so hard for just this thing, to develop the park." Heather Maneely said she believed it was also an honor for her husband, who died Jan. 12 of cancer at the age of 72, because the park is an important employer for Vermont.

   Bennington County Industrial Corp. Executive Director Peter Odierna agreed that Maneely's name was attached to what he called one of the "premiere corporate parks that we have in all of New England." "I feel strongly that the emerging composites cluster we have here in Bennington, you're just seeing the tip of the iceberg," Odierna said. "Dan, as we go forward, would be very proud of what I think is a tremendous opportunity for the community."

   Other people remembered a more personal side of Maneely. Richard "Dixie" Zens, vice president of Abacus Automation, which is also in the corporate park, called Maneely's devotion to riding bicycles — reflected in the drawing of a bicycle on the park signs — "notorious." "You would always see him out on the road somewhere," Zens said. "Even after he had been quite sick with cancer, he was still back out there, cranking around. He loved it, riding the bikes."

   Patrick Wheeler, president of Vermont Composites, said Maneely was proud of what he had accomplished in Bennington. "It was not all about profits and certainly not about status. It was about excellence," he said.