Obituary Bruce Calvert

A terminal industry legend, Elizabeth Bruce Calvert died peacefully at home this past December 13 at the age of 68. Best remembered by ILTA members for decades as ‘Mother Tank Farm’, Bruce and her second husband John Prokop ran the Independent Liquid Terminals Association (ILTA) for several decades.

Through their efforts, ILTA grew from being a small conference for public terminal operators to the largest industry trade show in the world dedicated to the storage terminal sector. ILTA held its first trade show at the Adam’s Mark Hotel in Houston, Texas in 1982 and opened its doors not only to public terminal operators but also to the wider petroleum and chemical sectors. Over the next 20 years the event grew by leaps and bounds, to the point where it outgrew the confines of the hotel and is now held at the George R Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston.

Bruce and John retired in 2001 to spend more time together and to travel throughout the US and to more than 17 countries abroad.

Bruce was born in Washington, DC and named after her maternal grandfather, Bruce Warden. She preferred to be known as Bruce, rather than Elizabeth, her whole life. Much to her delight, this resulted in her being enrolled in an all-male English class at Pembroke/Brown University, from where she graduated in 1965.

“There is no doubt that us old timers from the terminalling industry loved Bruce Calvert,” says Dick Mathers, one of the original ILTA members from the 1970s when he was with GATX Terminals Corp. “When I became a Supplier Member in the 1980s, Bruce truly was ‘Mother Tank-Farm’. She kept the trade show organised and running like a Swiss watch. And everyone followed the guidelines – no exceptions. She was the fairest, most principled person I ever met. I will miss her a great deal.”

John Moore, a longtime friend of both Bruce and John and the original editor of both The Oil Daily newspaper and Terminals magazine, summed up his feelings this way: “The world is a little poorer because she’s no longer here, but it’s richer because she was here. I’ll really miss her.”

Peter Mackay, HCB’s managing editor, adds: “Back in the days when the annual ILTA trade show was more like a family reunion than an industry event, Bruce was the one who made sure everyone knew where to sit and who to talk to. She was a huge personality who helped us all get everything we could from the event. A lot of people will be mourning her passing.”

Contributions in Bruce’s memory may be made to the American Cancer Society (http://main.acsevents.org/goto/brucecalvert); a memorial service to celebrate her life will take place next month.