Cosimo Crupi awarded Honorary Life Membership

Honorary Life Membership Award

by Lara Henry

The Ontario Asphalt Pavement Council awards program celebrates individuals who make a positive difference in the asphalt industry and who are leaders and role models who teach, inspire and encourage the leaders of tomorrow. This year, OAPC presented the Honorary Life Membership Award at its Annual General Meeting on January 28 at ORBA’s virtual summit.

The Honorary Life Membership Award recognizes members who are dedicated to advancing the objectives of OAPC and who have performed notable service to the council. The 2021 honour was awarded to Cosimo Crupi, president of the Crupi Group, one of Ontario’s largest integrated family-owned asphalt paving businesses. Crupi joined the business full time in 1963 and was named president in 1989. His father, Dominic Crupi, founded the company over seventy years ago in 1951. Cosimo Crupi was a founding member of OHMPA, predecessor of OAPC, and served on its board for many years. Under Cosimo Crupi, the Crupi Group saw great expansion. Today the company has four asphalt plants and more than 200 employees. Some have been there for decades, while others have parents and grandparents working there. Meanwhile, third and now fourth generation Crupis are active in the business. He and the company are active in the communities where Crupi operates and support a number of charitable organizations including the Scarborough Health network and Markham-Stouffville hospital. Cosimo Crupi was born on April Fools’ Day and has a well-known reputation as a huge practical joker. He loves to plan and play pranks on friends, family and colleagues, and everyone knows to have their guard up on the day. One memorable joke involved leaving messages supposedly from the Canadian Revenue Agency asking the recipient to call the CRA back and ask for Mr. E. Vasion. Another larger endeavour had friends waking up to various farm animals on their front doorstep. Everyone in the Crupi office knows to expect something on April 1, and it’s become something to look forward to as well as a birthday celebration. Crupi has been around equipment his entire life and is a born tinkerer and inventor. He’s the first to look over a new piece of equipment to see if any adjustments can be made to improve its performance. His real-world, practical approach also extends to designing equipment. After building a 3D model from fibreboard at the kitchen table, he designed an improved snow-clearing ››

attachment to clear the windrows at the ends of driveways that the company put into mass production for their contract work with the City of Toronto. Cosimo Crupi will be 78 this year, but he isn’t even close to slowing down. He’s at work before anyone else every day and still enjoys spending time in the field where the younger crew have trouble keeping up with him. It’s no exaggeration to say that he’s dedicated his entire life to the industry, the Crupi company, and the people who work there. OAPC congratulates Cosimo Crupi for winning the Honorary Life Membership Award.