In recognition of the Portable Sanitation Association International’s 55th anniversary, Jeff Wigley will introduce readers to the organization’s founding members in a series of articles. This is part 2 of 6.
Irvin Juster, PSAI president, Duane Rentals of Schenectady, New York
Born on April 4, 1917, in Tampa, Florida, Irvin Juster moved early and lived in New York until he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942. While fighting in World War II, he was captured and was a prisoner of war at a German POW camp, Oflag 64 in Poland. On Jan. 21, 1945, with the Soviet Army approaching, all able-bodied prisoners were marched for two months, in the winter cold and snow, nearly 400 miles to another POW site in Germany. This experience informed Irvin’s leadership and organizational skills while somehow instilling a spirit of optimism, which he displayed via a constant smile. In all the pictures that I have seen of him, he is always smiling.
Duane Rentals was founded in 1954 in Schenectady, New York, as a trailer-hauling rental business. The founder, Harold Hatkoff, has been referred to as a “pioneer in the rental business,” one of about six such businesses in the U.S. in 1976, according to The Times Record of Troy, New York. According to the article, he started with two “Sani-John” portable restrooms, and the company had grown to “about 200 in use throughout the area.”
Irvin Juster took over ownership of Duane Rentals in the mid-1960s. With the motto “Rent it, it’s cheaper than buying it,” the company continued to expand its vast array of rental products for both commercial and homeowner use. The company offered rentals of portable restrooms, trailers, tools, dishes and silverware, roll-away beds and cribs, and small appliances, such as washers, dryers, TVs and small refrigerators.
The innovative, creative and hard-working traits that Irvin Juster brought to Duane Rentals were integral to the creation of the PSAI. As the charter president, Irvin worked to publicize this new organization wherever and whenever possible. With its headquarters in Washington, D.C., an early PSAI goal was to educate lawmakers about the need for portable restrooms nationwide for commercial, industrial, residential and special-event use.
Ahead of the first PSAI convention in New Orleans in November 1971, Irvin led an aggressive media campaign to publicize the event and ensure its success. And these efforts to improve the industry’s public standing did not stop with the first convention.
His knowledge and experience in the rental industry were further enhanced by his membership in the American Rental Association. With members in all 50 states and more than 44 countries, this international association would have been a model for Irvin to share with the PSAI board at that time. In 1977, ever the leader, Irvin was elected president of the ARA.
That same year, he and his wife, Suzanne, traveled to the 1977 Hire and Rental Industry Association Convention in Melbourne, Australia. As an honored guest, he undoubtedly saw and visited with HRIA past president Gordon Edsen. The following year, 1977, Gordon and a partner formed portable restroom company Rent-A-Loo, and in 1986, became a PSAI member. Perhaps Irvin shared valuable information about the U.S. portable sanitation industry that seeded the idea in Australia?
A decorated soldier, a POW, a leader and an innovator with a worldwide perspective, Irvin Juster was an outstanding choice as our association’s first president.
Stanford Freedman, PSAI vice president, Able Builders Sanitation of Miami, Florida
Stanford Freedman’s father, Albert “Mr. Able” Freedman, started Able Industries/Able Sanitation in 1954 in Miami after moving from Philadelphia. Stanford Freedman grew up in the family business and was influenced by his father’s can-do attitude and helpful leadership style.
Freedman was a part of the organizing committee and served as the vice president, 1971-72. In 1972, he became the owner of Able Industries and, as he had to devote his time to this transition, he stepped down from the board but not from the association. Able Sanitation was sold to United Site Services in 2001, but Freedman continued to operate Able Export, Able Building Solutions, and Able Scaffolding for many years.
Historical sidenote: In 1973, Fred Edwards, a young man in his mid-20s, visited Able Industries and inquired about the portable restroom business. Mr Able was very helpful, as was Stanford, with whom Fred rode around Able’s service area. Later that year, with more knowledge gained from other PSA members, Fred Edwards founded the first portable sanitation company outside of North America, DIXI.
Frank Phillips, PSAI treasurer, Jiffie Jonnie of Doraville, Georgia
Frank Phillips founded Jiffie Jonnie in the small metro Atlanta community of Doraville in September 1965, when the development iron was hot. The Atlanta area saw rapid commercial growth in the 1960s, and Doraville was home to a large and expanding General Motors plant. Construction was underway on the massive 66-mile Atlanta perimeter, Interstate 285, with completion scheduled for 1969.
Frank Phillips was dedicated to the PSAI. He served as treasurer from 1971 to 1973 and recruited and sponsored many new companies during his tenure. The February 1972 News & Views PSAI newsletter featured a company Frank sponsored that would one day have a dramatic impact on the association: Sansom. Company owners Clyde and Dorothy Sansom would go on to become the first Andy Gump Award recipient and first female PSAI president, respectively. The Sansoms also founded Synergy World, a unit manufacturer that Satellite purchased in 2018. Looking at that same newsletter issue, you will notice that another company, Redford’s Honey Bucket, joined at that same time, quite a month for the future success of the portable sanitation industry and our association.
Frank furthered his efforts to promote and expand the industry by forming the Atlanta Area Portable Restroom Association in 1973. He, along with fellow PSAI charter member Kermit Trulove of Cobb Porta-John and PSAI member Sanelect Inc., formed this group to organize and share information with other companies in the Atlanta area.
Tragically, Frank Phillips died in a small plane crash on July 8, 1981, at the age of 51. This incident received much local coverage at that time.
Historical sidenote: I was raised in Doraville, Georgia, and my parents always referred to portable restrooms as “Jiffie Jonnies” in the late 1960s and ’70s. It was only while I was in college at the University of Georgia in Athens (1979-83) that I saw and became familiar with other units. PSAI member The Glenn Company, owned by past board member Tom Glenn, was the provider in Athens. So I began calling these units “portable restrooms,” never imagining that I would be involved in the industry one day.
Part 3, “ Meet PSAI Charter Board Members Al Hilde and Earl Braxton,” will be published on May 21. Read Part 1, here.
