On Tuesday, May 21 the world lost a man who had made a number of contributions to the community and business scene of Shullsburg.
    Robert L. McCoy, the founder of McCoy Group, Inc., passed away on Tuesday, May 21 in Las Vegas, Nevada at the age of 86.
    In 1954, McCoy founded a company in Shullsburg that would eventually grow to become the McCoy Group, Inc. which is the holding company for six subsidiaries engaged in the truck and transportation industries including: Truck Country, Tow Truck Country, McCoy NationaLease, Foodliner, Quest Liner and Quest Logistics. 
    McCoy started out with just one truck, hauling milk from Shullsburg back in 1954. Soon after he formed Mc-Mor-Han Trucking with two partners. He ran operations and was the driving force in the business.
    Then in 1958, McCoy started Truck Country, a business of selling and servicing trucks, offering GMC trucks and later, Freightliner trucks as well.                 Through the years, McCoy’s sons Mike, Jack and Bob Jr. joined their father in growing and building the company to include 12 full-service Truck Country locations in Iowa as well as Wisconsin.
    “He was a great guy who started a great company,” said Dave Glindinning, a salesman with Truck Country in Shullsburg who has been with the company for 27 years. “And he was a real good friend,” he added. Glindinning said he had known McCoy for nearly 60 years.
    Dick Roddick, who also worked with McCoy for many years, said, “he was my mentor, he was my boss and he was a good friend.”
    Roddick who was with the company for 48 years, said he first began working for McCoy when he was 21-years-old and saw the management transition between generations when McCoy retired in the early 90s. “He raised a great family that continued with the business and was very successful,” said Roddick.
    Currently McCoy’s grandsons, Doug, Brian, Greg and Jon are in the leadership positions of the McCoy Group and are going forward with McCoy’s original uncompromising commitment to serving the customer.
    Roddick, who retired from the company as vice president of operations of the trucking company, said he remembers working in the office daily with McCoy before the founder’s retirement.
    “He was very understanding, but you always knew he was the boss. He was firm and aggressive, and you always knew where you stood with him. Through the years we spent a lot of time together, whether it was hunting or at social gatherings,” said Roddick. “We enjoyed a special friendship and I will miss him,” he added. 
    But even though McCoy was very successful on the business front, and started a company that contributed jobs to the area and was economically beneficial to the community as it grew through the years, that wasn’t all that he did.
McCoy was also the mayor of Shullsburg for a two-year term starting in 1980 and was a member of the Shullsburg School Board for 15 years. He was a member of the Amicitia Lodge #25 Free and Accepted Masons of Shullsburg for many years and was a member of the Zor Shrine.
    McCoy was described as a leader in the community by many who knew him. It also seemed to be a common thing for McCoy to maintain strong friendships with many of those that he worked with.   
In more recent years, McCoy who had moved to Las Vegas, Nev. after retirement had the goal of writing a book of the history of the companies, which was realized in 2012 when McCoy Group – A history of Commitment to the Customer was published.
The title of his book seemed to sum up McCoy’s overall attitude in business, according to those who worked with him. “He was all about honesty and taking care of the customers,” said Glindinning.
 “The customer always came first with him, that’s part of why he was so successful,” Roddick added.
Funeral services will be held Thursday, May 30 at 11 a.m. at Centenary United Methodist Church in Shullsburg with Rev. Jeffrey Meyer officiating. A visitation will be held from 9-10:30 a.m. at the church that same morning. An additional visitation was held on Wednesday, May 29 from 3-8 p.m. at the church as well.
McCoy requested to be cremated, so a private burial service will take place on Saturday, June 1 at the Evergreen Cemetery in Shullsburg for extended family.
The family is requesting in lieu of flowers that memorials may be given to the McCoy Public Library in Shullsburg, the Shullsburg Food Pantry, or the Centenary United Methodist Church in Shullsburg.