Equipment Corporation - Heavy Construction Equipment & Sales - (800) 490-3226

ECCO Equipment Corp.
1417 N Susan St.
Santa Ana, CA 92703

Phone: (714) 554-4851

Don Schmid Bio

Don Schmid, son of Walter and Marge Schmid, was born Feb 14, 1930, in Santa Ana Community Hospital. He grew up on the family farm in Garden Grove, walking to school barefoot through the orange groves. After school, he and his younger brother Dick would irrigate the fields and operate the farm tractors. He graduated from Anaheim Union High School in 1947. In 1951, he graduated from Cal Tech with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. Upon being drafted to the Army, he enlisted in the Navy and served aboard the destroyer USS Taylor as a lieutenant during the Korean War. Following his discharge in 1954, he worked for the LA County Sanitation District and then for the State of California as a construction superintendent and design engineer.

In 1958, he made two decisions that would shape the rest of his life: to marry Martha “Marty” Anderson and to create a little construction company called ECCO. His relationship with Marty began awkwardly when he announced at their introduction that she was a freeloader. Somehow he later convinced her to go out with him and they spent the next 50 years raising four kids, traveling the world, becoming doting grandparents, and serving their community. During the same 50 years, his construction company morphed into the 24th largest rental company in North America.

Once his family and company were well established, Don started his involvement with various civic organizations. He ran for a seat on the Tustin School Board in 1968, but his natural inclination to tell the truth made him an unpopular candidate. Other organizations, however, saw the advantage of having a straight shooter on their team, and he joined the boards of Eldorado Bank, AGC of California, and the Orange County Council Boy Scouts of America, among others.

Don loved dancing, card games (not poker), word games, board games, travel, and more recently, golf. And his favorite way to do these things was with Marty and his kids and grandkids. He was too restless to enjoy spectator sports.

His battle with cancer began in 2003 with a diagnosis of 4th stage melanoma. He underwent round after round of chemotherapy and radiation with good results. Then they found cancer of the salivary glands, and when he beat that they found cancer in his spine. He was active to the end, taking several international trips in the last year. In November, he was honored by the construction industry for 50 years of achievements. He passed away peacefully at home on January 23, 2009.

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