Longtime foodservice equipment manufacturer Michael Elliott has died. He was 82 years old.

After graduating from Indiana University in 1962, Elliott worked for a variety of companies, including RCA and Dunn & Bradstreet. Then in 1964 he joined the Elliott-Williams Company, the family business that manufactured walk-in refrigeration equipment for the foodservice industry. He became president of Elliott-Williams in 1980 and then owner of the company in 1984.

Throughout his professional life, Elliott served on a variety of industry boards, panels, projects and advisory councils, including the National Sanitation Foundation. At Elliott-Williams he was responsible for such high-profile projects as building cold storage warehouses as part of the Aswan Dam project in Egypt, building the cold storage for the original Port of Abu Dhabi project in the 80’s and building cold storage in Santiago, Chile for grape and wine industry.

“Mike Elliott was one of those people who owned a room when he walked in and knew the walk-in business like no one else I have met.” Said George Zawacki, a longtime member of the foodservice equipment industry. “He and I spent several years sitting on the same NSF Joint Committee for Commercial Kitchen Equipment and Mike was well respected for his knowledge and commentary as code writing issues came up.”

Elliott is survived by his wife, Arden Campbell Elliott and his four children; Michael M. Jr., E. Matthew, Marc C., Megan M. DiCiccio and eight grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Carmel Clay Public Library Foundation, or the American Heart Association. Online condolences may be shared here.