Shawn Crider meant a lot to Cullman County’s active community of business and industry. But those close to him say the Cullman area hasn’t just lost a leader of local industry — it’s also lost a genial, loyal and intelligent advocate.

“He’d be one you’d want with you in a duck blind; with you anywhere,” says local industry owner Barry McGriff, who for years served alongside Crider on the City of Cullman Industrial Development Board. “He was funny and energetic and very positive, and he brought a lot of humor. But also, Shawn was just a very sharp person. Even with him being a younger guy than I am, I always enjoyed my experience of being with him.”

Crider passed away Dec. 30 at the age of 56. As part of the family-led management team at Bremen-based HH Technologies, Crider and his brothers helped guide the company his father, Grant, founded as it grew from Hired Hand, a small farming solutions business, into a present-day manufacturer that employs 400 people at four locations around the world — all from the company’s home office near Cold Springs.

Crider served for more than a decade on the city Industrial Development Board, tendering a resignation letter on Dec. 5 of last year as he and his wife, Mandy, set their sights on spending more time at their second residence in Florida. Cullman Economic Development Agency director Dale Greer said Crider had anticipated the end of his board term (which was due to expire at the end of 2022), and had elected to step away ahead of time to assure a smooth transition for his successor.

“I feel blessed and honored to have worked with Shawn,” said Greer. “He spent a lot time, energy and resources working to improve this community.”

Crider had a persuasive way of getting outsiders to appreciate all that Cullman County had to offer, said Greer, an effective skill that helped sell interested industry heads on the community’s assets when all the built-in enticement of business recruitment fell away and the talk inevitably turned candid.

“The thing you typically get from an ID board is, people come to Cullman and they think that I’m the paid salesperson for this community,” Greer said. “But of course, they really want to talk to the non-paid salesperson; the person who can give them the full community profile. and Shawn was just great at that. He had a great, warm personality, and was just a great representative for our area. He would light up a room when he came in.”

That’s a sentiment shared by local industry owner John Apel, who said those who knew Crider feel bereft of both his professional contributions as well as his personal friendship.

“He was a great asset to the [ID] board and was very knowledgable on may topics regarding various industries and the things we try to accomplish,” said Apel. “However, what I will really remember Shawn for is the type of person he was. He always greeted everyone with a smile and handshake. I’m not sure I have been around a more friendly, outgoing person.”

“I appreciate what his family has done here — creating jobs and opportunities for people in a rural part of the country,” added McGriff. “In a very rural area, they were able to carve out a very profitable niche in industry that I feel, over the years, has really helped our county.”

In the resignation letter he submitted to ID board members on Dec. 5, Crider’s own words exemplify his well-entrenched faith in his Cullman County roots.

“We love our community and would challenge anyone to find a better place in Alabama to live and raise a family,” Crider wrote. “I’m saddened to leave but happy for the next person who replaces me [in] the opportunity to work with this wonderful group of leaders, and feel the gratitude of being able to contribute to this great community, … The one thing I will leave you with, Cullman without a doubt, is in good hands.”

Memorial services for Shawn Jeffrey Crider will be held at 2 p.m. today, Jan. 7, at Daystar Church at Good Hope. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the scholarship that has been set up in Shawn’s name. Donations to the Shawn Crider Memorial Scholarship can be made using the following link: http://www.wsccfuturefoundation.org/crider.

“The Crider family has been incredibly supportive to Wallace State over the years and we extend our deepest condolences for the loss of Shawn,” said Wallace State President Vicki Karolewics, noting the Crider family’s generation-spanning investment in the college’s success. “The Criders were early supporters of our entrepreneurship efforts, Shawn’s brother Tony is our assistant cross-country coach, many of the children are alumni, and Kiah, his nephew, is a former SGA president.”