Art Moore

Founder / Snorkel Lifts / 1924 – 2019 / Inducted 2020

Art Moore grew up in St. Joseph, Missouri, just north of Kansas City, where he became childhood friends with future business partner Ray Pitman. Pitman and Moore started the Pitman Manufacturing Company in 1949, focusing on hydraulic lift trucks. In 1958, the Chicago Fire Department modified a Pitman truck with a fire hose, and Moore saw the benefit of the idea, breaking off to focus on lifted fire equipment with the Snorkel Fire Equipment Company, which he opened in 1959.

In 1977, Moore took his designs for the Snorkel Telesquirt and applied them to a construction access lift, developing the first TB42 lift. In 1986, Moore led Snorkel to develop the “Uno” articulated boom lift for industrial plant maintenance. Two years later, Snorkel entered the scissor lift market with the acquisition of Economy Engineering. In 1991, Moore retired from snorkel, however, returned to the board of directors after Snorkel was acquired by Ahern, where he served until his passing in 2019.

“Thank you for preserving his legacy,” said Sue Moore, wife of Art Moore. “He was a really great man, great in the industry, and I feel really great about this.”