These Guys Have a Connection to the Bobcat Founding Fathers

Published on September 19, 2016

It’s not uncommon to find Bobcat Company employees who have a family connection to the company dating back two or three generations. But only a handful can claim a direct connection to the founders. Meet three descendants of the Melroe and Keller families.

All three — Mike, Lucas and Shawn — are current Bobcat Company employees.

It Started with E.G.

In 1947 E.G. Melroe founded the Melroe Manufacturing Company in Gwinner, North Dakota. After E.G.’s death in 1955, he left the company to his four sons: Les, Cliff, Roger and Irv — and their brother-in-law, Gene Dahl. In the summer of 1958, the Melroe brothers were introduced to the Keller brothers of Rothsay, Minnesota, and soon they joined forces. The result was a machine that became a worldwide icon: the self-propelled loader.

Mike Melroe, West Fargo

Fast forward to 1989. Like many Gwinner-area high school graduates, Mike Melroe got his foot in the Bobcat factory door as a vacation replacement (VR). In 1994 he scored an internship with the Bobcat Product Management group in West Fargo, North Dakota, where he washed, transported and operated the Bobcat equipment used for sales training, marketing videos and photography. Mike then joined Bobcat Company full time in 1997 as a member of the Product Information and Training team.

Today the 45-year-old is director of Key Accounts and Government Accounts, managing a team of internal sales representatives who call on government agencies and large- volume contractors and corporate businesses.

Mike says he’s proud to contribute to the success story his great-grandfather started some 70 years ago. “It’s important to remember your roots — where you came from,” he says.

It’s fitting that Mike works in sales. After Bobcat loaders joined the Melroe lineup, Mike’s grandfather, Irv, was responsible for sustaining the ag side of the business — the plows, harrows and windrow pickups sold in the Midwest. In 1969 Irv and his brothers sold their interest to Clark Equipment Company. The Clark assets were sold to Ingersoll Rand in 1995, which sold the business to Doosan in 2007.

Nearly 50 years after the sale, people still recognize the Melroe family name. Mike says it comes up regularly in his travels. “When I am at trade shows, I may be asked two to three times a day if I’m related to the founders. I’m very proud of the Melroe name.”