October 19, 2023 - South Haven and Van Buren County, Michigan are mourning the loss of one of the area’s prominent  industrialists.  Dana Getman, the leader of the Getman Corporation for four decades passed away earlier this week at age 77.

The Getman Corporation began in South Haven in the 1950s and has grown to become one of the foremost manufacturers and suppliers of underground mining equipment in the World. Dana Getman was the Chairman of the Board at the time of his death, after serving as the President/CEO until his semi-retirement about ten years ago.

Dana Getman presided over the company’s growth from a small South Haven shop, first to a manufacturing plant in Bangor in the 1980s and then to a state of the art facility in Kalamazoo in 2013.

The Getman Corporation success story developed from its original invention of a motorized wheelbarrow called the Scoot-Crete, which helped automate concrete work at big public construction projects like the Mackinac Bridge and interstate highways in the 1950s.   Underground mining companies adapted the equipment and Getman seized upon that market, developing a long line of specialized mining gear and vehicles ever since.

Dana Getman

Dana Getman was active in the South Haven community, including the Michigan Maritime Museum, South Haven Center for the Arts, Youth Development Company, and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of SW Michigan.

A visitation honoring the memory of Dana Getman will be on Friday, October 20, 5-8 pm at the Michigan Maritime Museum, 260 Dyckman Avenue in South Haven.

Memorials are suggested to the Maritime Museum and Big Brothers/Big Sisters.  Starks Family Funeral Homes & Cremation Services/Filbrandt Chapel is handling the arrangements.