In August 1970, Geldof began working for Harold Keen, brother of Keen Gas’s CEO, Merrill Keen, at Keen Service Shop, a separate entity from Keen Compressed Gas Co., where he repaired torches and regulators, and tested cylinders.
Source: Keen Compressed Gas
The shop folded into Keen Compressed Gas Co. in 1972 when the New Castle Avenue property was purchased. Geldof took hand in the setup of this new Keen location while continuing to do cylinder testing.
After joining the sales team a couple of years later, Geldof then then moved to outside sales before becoming a driver in 1976. There were only two branch locations then, Millville, New Jersey and Dover, Delaware, so all the deliveries came out of the Wilmington location.
Geldof recalls driving all day and getting back to the plant to fill cylinders. “We did whatever we had to do to grow the company,” he said.
“Before we knew it, it was bigger than the week before.”
Geldof ran the repair shop at Keen for a few years following his driving career. While at the shop, he took on the task of installing the very first customer Microbulk installation for Keen and went on to do a total of ten installations.
For the last 30 plus years Geldof has served Keen as Operations Manager, playing an intricate roll in the day to day operations of the company. His responsibilities ranged from dispatching trucks to overseeing the cylinder fill plant to providing gas solutions for customers. Although retired, Geldof still comes in a day or two a week.
“He’s a hard worker, just does what needs to be done, where do you find people like that? His knowledge of the company, and expertise, can never be replaced,” said CEO Merrill Keen.