Mark Boyer: A True Contributor to the U.S. Power Sweeping Industry
by Ranger Kidwell-Ross, Editor
September 2023
Mark Boyer was someone who could be counted on to help anyone who had sweeping questions – especially when it came to application/usage and pricing for most any make/model/years of sweepers.
When it came to knowledge about buying and selling sweepers and other pavement-oriented rolling stock, for two decades Mark Boyer was perhaps the top expert in America. The longtime editor of both SweeperMarket and PaverMarket magazines, Boyer was the conduit for many tens of millions of dollars in equipment sales.
Mark Boyer passed away on August 28, 2023. For those readers who only knew Mark as the editor of their favorite equipment sales publication, Mark's obituary reminds readers that he was a "gentle and loving soul... with a sensitive side that reminded others to be more aware of their emotions." He also had a motorcycle-oriented side, as well. Many sweeping industry friends probably didn't know any of that about Mark – or that he was an excellent old-school knife maker.
Mark was an avid seller on eBay; he'd find treasures at garage sales he could buy and then resell. During many of our business calls he'd recount his latest big score where he expected to multiply his cost many times over upon resale.
Mark also enjoyed the concept of pirates and had an excellent pirate costume that he'd wear on occasions when an event, or perhaps Halloween, called for such. About 20 years ago I hosted a pirate-themed party on my property north of Seattle. Both Janice and Mark had wonderful costumes.
All of that said, the reason Boyer deserves being in this section is to catalog the impact he had on sweeping industry history. Mark had an almost encyclopedic knowledge of sweeping and pavement maintenance equipment, info he was ready to share with those who needed it.
Mark Boyer's willingness to help others assisted scores of sellers get fair value when selling their sweepers. No doubt his advice kept an equal number of contractor purchasers from buying a lemon.
In 2012 Mark took time to provide his thoughts for a WorldSweeper article discussing what people needed to know about buying or selling a used sweeper or other vehicles. What Boyer said then rings true today.
An industry friend of Mark's is Mike Dyck, who most will know as a long-time MASCO affiliate. I called Mike and asked if he'd shared some reminisces. His recollections covered the beginnings of the first sales pamphlet for sweeping, the Used Sweeper Newsletter, which was started in the late 1980s by his former employee, Bill Riddle. When Riddle passed away in the late '90s, the rights were purchased by Davidson-Macri. Soon after, Mark Boyer came on board as the editor and ad salesperson.
"Mark and I talked quite often," said Dyck. "Mark would let me know if he had an ad had come in for a used sweeper he thought I might be interested in. As the ad buyer for MASCO, we also talked about the ads we were running. Mark's knowledge about sweeping equipment was really something."
If you want to listen to Mike Dyck and myself reminisce about what the industry was like at the time the first sweeper sales publication was started, here's the link (will open into a new window).
I also taped a similar reminiscence with Mark Schwarze, son of the founder of Schwarze Industries, Inc. who ran that company for many years before it was sold to the Alamo Group. Schwarze emphasized that Mark Boyer was a credit to power sweeping and approached life, both business and personal as far as he ever saw, "with a good heart and was someone who cared about others around him." Here is the entire 9-minute conversation.
Finally, and certainly not least, I spoke to Bob Anderson, owner of Bellevue, WA-based DavidsonMacri Sweeping. Bob was also owner of the SweeperMarket and PaverMarket magazines.
In this audio interview, Anderson talked about his relationship with Mark Boyer, who he "inherited" when he bought the company. He told me he knew little-to-nothing about the publishing business, but that Mark was very good at his job and so the magazine venture went well for many years.
Ultimately, due to rising cost of printing, paper and postage, in May of 2022 what had become Sweeper & Paver Market magazine suspended operations. However, Bob was clear that the publications went on as long as possible largely due to Mark Boyer's valiant efforts to make it all work.
Mark and I often roomed together at the National Pavement Expos. It was an ideal situation, since that allowed both of us to transmit what we'd learned that day, going back-and-forth in late evening hours. On behalf of SweeperMarket and PaverMarket magazines, Mark would always be dedicated in seeing every booth at NPE, making sure they knew about his publications.
His genial manners and wide-ranging industry knowledge resulted in many new customers. He would also let me know of any new products he thought ought to be featured – or sold an ad – in my own publications.
 As Editor of two publications dealing with ads, Mark was a Photoshop pro. He helped me several times with the Christmas cards that merged vintage sweepers with or as Santa's sleigh. He also liked to send a spoof image to industry friends once in awhile. In the one to the right he added in Tony Soprano to a photo taken at NPE and then sent it to all of us to see the 'photo bomb.'
Early on as Editor of American Sweeper magazine and then, since 2005, this WorldSweeper website, I often receive calls from contractors and city officials needing info on how much they should charge for their used machinery. I always referred them to Mark and told them to get back to me if they didn't get the help they needed. I virtually never got a callback.
In 2008, SweeperMarket magazine and parent company, Davidson-Macri Sweeping, received WorldSweeper's Award of Excellence in Power Sweeping for 2008. When Davidson-Macri was sold, Mark stayed on as editor of SweeperMarket and PaverMarket magazines under the company's new owner, Bob Anderson.
Although Mark toyed briefly with the idea of continuing to work somewhere in the industry when the magazine was discontinued, in the end I believe he realized that his 14-year affliction with Parkinson's meant he should retire and end his over 20 years of industry involvement.
So he did, and moved to Oregon where he and Janice could live close to their cherished granddaughters, Payton, Mia and Addison. Mark was also looking forward to a new hobby of crabbing off the Oregon Coast. Instead, on August 28th, he slipped off to be an angelic pirate.
Mark Boyer was a credit to the sweeping industry, someone deserving of a place in WorldSweeper's Noteworthy section. Please let us know if you know of something or someone who should be included in this, or any section, of the WorldSweeper.com website.
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