With little capital, an old station wagon and a fledgling family to support, his first target was survival. The story of his determination, enterprise and achievements is told elsewhere, but suffice it to say, we only have to look around to-day at the health and strength of the company he created to see that he survived, succeeded and triumphed in a pretty convincing way.

It’s quite fitting that he established the head office complex of his company in Parnell. This suburb, once an area of poorly paid workers, foundries, brickworks, shipyards woolstores and smoking chimneys has blossomed with skilful refurbishment into an elegant and prosperous doorway to Auckland from the east; a growth over time not unlike the development of his own business.

With service to his customer always in mind, Eddie built Attwoods into the force it is to-day, and he intends to keep it that way. Land developers and take-over bids have no place in his philosophy. He grew a company for the family, and a family company it stays!

Now the company stands with a fifty year track record of ‘personal service’, not always encountered with multinationals. Fair play with customer and staff alike is evidenced by the fact that 18 of our employees, around 33 per cent have worked for Eddie for ten years or more, some for 30 years.

Comment below to have your say on this story.

If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.  

Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter