Irving Suknow, founder of Reading Truck Body in Reading PA, died March 28 after a brief period in the hospital. He was 83.
Born July 19, 1920, in Philadelphia PA, Suknow attended the University of Pennsylvania. While serving in the US Army during World War II, he was the first American soldier to receive the signal for the surrender of the Japanese.
A member of the National Truck Equipment Association's board of trustees during the late 1970s, Suknow was the owner and chairman of Reading, a company he started in 1955.
The company will continue to operate under the ownership of his wife, Francine Suknow, according to Dan Perlman, president of The Reading Group.
“We will carry on the same philosophies and principles upon which Irv founded the company,” Perlman says. “Irv recently developed a management team that he empowered with full confidence to lead our company into the future.”
He is survived by his wife, Francine; a daughter, Lynn Gordon; two granddaughters, and four great-grandchildren.
Services were conducted March 31 at Kesher Zion Synagogue. Contributions can be made to the Jewish Federation of Reading, the Anti-Defamation League of Bínai Brith, or The Shriner Hospital for Children.