The late Sir Russell Pettigrew, who left school at the age of 12 to work on the family farm and who went on to create the country's largest transport service operation, is set to be inducted into the Business Hall of Fame later this month.
Sir Russell was a teenager
when he arrived in Hawke's Bay in the 1930s, and he not only became a leading businessman but also a devoted philanthropist.
His determination to make a mark in the transport industry saw him use savings from his initial job at the Hawke's Bay Motor Company to buy three horses, which he used to cart fence posts and battens from the Pohokura bush block to the Napier-Taupo road.
After service with the Royal Navy in World War II he returned to the Bay and was back in transport action, buying an eight-seater Packard car to run a service between Te Pohue and Napier.
He formed RH Pettigrew Transport in 1945 with two Leyland trucks and over the following 40 years grew the business into a major transportation force. By 1964 there were more than 100 trucks in the fleet and after merging with transport firms in Auckland and Wellington he created Freightways Express.
