Brian George French

BRIAN GEORGE FRENCH 

Dec. 5, 1957 - Jan. 26, 2025

Brian George French, age 67, passed away January 26, 2025 after a long illness of multiple sclerosis St. Lukes Hospital in New Bedford. 

He was the loving husband of Donna M. (Burgess) French for 45 amazing years. He leaves two sons, Benjamin M. French and wife Carla and their 2 daughters Lucille J. French and Kataleya M. French of Virginia, and Christopher J. French of Massachusetts. He was predeceased by his parents, Virginia and Lynwood French.  

He leaves a brother, L. Barry French of Tennessee and a sister, Dianne French Hultstrom and her husband Dennis of Massachusetts. He also leaves a nephew, Eric Hultstrom of Massachusetts, a niece Rebecca (Hultstrom) Onchaga of Florida and Caitlin (French) Wright of Tennessee. 

A lifelong resident of Assonet, Brian graduated from Freetown Elementary School, Apponequet Regional High School and then Wentworth Institute of Technology with high honors, and had his picture taken with Governor Edward King, for his outstanding achievement. He also earned his private pilot’s license. 

As a pre-teenager Brian was self-employed mowing lawns, rebuilding bicycles and lawn mowers from the town dump and selling them. He also had a small engine repair business in Assonet and worked at The Villager addressing subscriber’s newspapers, facilities maintenance and had a paper route. He painted and repaired houses and did repair work on oil burners for Macomber Oil Company in Assonet, occasionally including overnight services with a service van before he had a driver’s license, but he did have a Massachusetts Oil Burner license. After graduating high school he worked at Taylor Rentals, and TASCO/Taunton Stove Company. After graduating from Wentworth he worked for Paul S Horton/contractor, Harris Printing Press Company, C O Hoffacker Company, RICO Machine Tool Company, and then worked for Heat Transfer Products for 33 years before retiring due to medical reasons. He worked for HTP primarily in engineering management and product development. He was instrumental in the company’s growth by developing many new innovative products and technologies. He helped to move the business twice, ultimately acquiring the current manufacturing building using some very talented negotiating tactics. He was able to design and build many specialized machines for productivity and efficiency. He was licensed and able to do the commercial electrical and plumbing work to minimize the costs associated with the growing business. He was a remarkable innovator who had designed and built many new products, fabrication machines, and tools. During his years with HTP he traveled extensively both domestically and internationally, visiting such places as Europe, Asia, South America, Middle East, Russia and Africa, sometimes having armed security guards for safety. He performed the Investigation of product failures, as well as new product development, sourcing precious metals supplies, components for products, and advanced technical training for customers, supporting HTP’s products.

Brian was an active Code Development member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, chairing for many Committees, American Welding Society and the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Cooling Engineers. He also served as an Expert Witness for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, as well as new rebate programs for the Senate Subcommittee on Energy. He earned his NFPA- 921 certification, for the professional examination of fire and explosion scenarios. He would travel to sites to investigate any loss claims and provide expert analysis of the cause and origin of the loss.

Outside of work, he loved family camping with their various recreational vehicles while they had driven well over 1 million miles, traveling every summer with his family for work- criss crossing the country several times per year. He was a member of many camping clubs; Massachusetts Minute Men of Family Motor Coach Association, Wampanoag and Quahaug, both chapter’s of North American Campers Association,  Wally Byam Airstream Club and Good Sam.   Brian was passionate about building his home and doing all of the electrical, plumbing, carpentry, cabinet making and furniture building. He had an extensive woodworking shop and machine shop in the basement as well as a building his own 3 phase power converter because it was needed for the milling machine, along with several metal fabrication machines and many welding machines. He  was passionate about Model A Fords, and he had a completely restored 1930 Model A Briggs Town Sedan. He could figure out and fix almost anything from automotive, electrical, and mechanical, to complex manufacturing and engineering systems. He was always doing something mechanical and resurrected several antique vehicles including a 1950 Dodge Meadowbrook. He had loved sailing and had belonged to Shawmut Yacht Club and raced in many events and had won several trophies. 

Brian was a life member of the Freetown Historical Society, the Model A Ford Club of America, Model A Restores Club and MARCOM - Model A Ford Club of Massachusetts. Growing up he was a Boy Scout. Both Benjamin and Christopher are Eagle Scouts. He was a member of the United Church of Assonet where he and Donna were married in 1979.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Rocky Mountain MS Society or The National MS Society. 

Interment will be private. There will be a memorial service Saturday February 1st at 1:00 in the afternoon at the United Church of Assonet, 9 N Main St, Assonet, MA.

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