We’re honored to celebrate the incredible life and legacy of Peter Band, the founder of Thermon Australia. Peter’s story is one of resilience, vision, and deep humanity — from surviving a WWII POW camp as a child, to pioneering electric heat tracing in Australia, and leading Thermon with a spirit of optimism and tenacity. His life experiences shaped not only the business he helped build but also the values we continue to hold dear at Thermon: Care, Commit, Collaborate. Peter’s reminder that we are only as strong as the happiness of our families and communities is something we continue to carry forward. Thank you, Peter, for laying the foundation and setting the tone for what it means to lead with heart and purpose. Thank you for everything. #Thermon #LeadershipLegacy #ProcessHeating #IndustrialHeating #CareCommitCollaborate #PeterBand
Peter Band, aged 94 yrs passed away this week and I wanted to share and celebrate his life. Born in 1930 in Kalimantan, Indonesia his father worked for Shell at their Tarakan Island oil facility. Peter recalled his early childhood as being free and full of adventure- literally growing up in the jungle, his love of Indonesia and the people never left him. The shadow of WW2 came and at the age of 11 he was interned in a men’s POW camp, with the rest of his family in separate camps. 3.5 yrs later the war was over and the gates of the camp opened and miraculously he and his family were reunited at the nearby port. Shell sent their employees to Australia for recovery, arriving in 1945 he fell in love with Australia its beaches, sun & freedom. Back to Holland with his parents (and the cold he had never experienced) he recommenced school and university- in the meantime his fathers next Shell posting was Papua New Guinea. Post war Europe were difficult days and those returning from overseas were often seen as an additional burden on the country. Peter completed mechanical engineering in Holland and during this time met Pauline Vogel who he would marry and be deeply in love with for 62 yrs. Pauline always said she would have gone anywhere with Peter and so in 1956 they arrived in Melbourne, Australia. In the mid sixties Thermons founder Dick Burdick was in Sydney for a Shell Refinery expansion and Peter was working for the company that represented Thermon. That company was collapsing - Peter retells that he and Dick we’re having a beer in a Sydney pub and his plan was not to let Dick out, until he agreed to let him start Thermon Australia. This was 1966. In process heating, steam was king and many aspects of electric heat tracing were still being pioneered by Thermon, which made the task of selling always a challenge. Peter led and drove Thermon Australia from 1966 to 1997. His attitude was always a glass half full and so positive- a huge optimist. He is among the last of a generation that had seen the worst and best of humanity, so his outlook was let’s give this a red hot go…what is the worst thing that could happen. He had plenty of sayings which he repeated a lot 😀 - a couple are “everyone gets what they deserve”, “reach for the stars you may not touch stardust but at least you won’t get shi* on your hands”. I was fortunate enough to work with Peter for 7 yrs and one of the best pieces of advice he gave me was- as an employee you are not much use to your company or yourself if your family is not happy. Have a happy family and most other things fall into place. Thermon understands the challenge of work- life balance and we express these in our values of Care, Commit and Collaborate. We will miss Peter - entrepreneur & founder of Thermon Australia, great family man, boat builder and lover of the ocean. Fair winds Pete! Thermon#Processheating#industrialheating#CareCommitCollobarate#