Phil Carney, former vice president of sales and marketing at Fenton, MO-based QuickPoint (asi/80150), passed away on April 11. He was 81.

Born in Indian Mound, TN, Carney came from humble beginnings, living in a log cabin. After high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served as a Morse code operator in Germany. Upon returning home, he graduated from St. Louis University with a degree in business and embarked on a lengthy, illustrious career in the promotional products industry.

“Phil Carney was QuickPoint,” says Guy Dupuis, director of affiliate sales development at Top 40 distributor iPROMOTEu (asi/232119). “He was a great teacher and knew how to not only sell products, but talk about their benefits so you’d want to buy them. A trip to any national show wasn’t complete without seeing his smiling face. He always made you feel like you were the only person in the room.”

Dan Townes, president of Shelbyville, TN-based Shepenco (asi/86850), can rattle off a handful of hilarious stories involving his late friend. Whether joking about his golf game, calming frustrated customers or winning waitresses over, Carney was a natural salesman. “He could turn a situation from DEFCON 5 to Kumbaya,” Townes says. “I would say, ‘Dude, why aren’t you at the U.N.?’ ”

A former PPAI board member, Carney was elected a PPAI Fellow in 2016. Highly sought after as a motivational speaker, he always left crowds with pearls of wisdom, such as “May your butterflies always fly in formation” and “There’s no traffic in the extra mile.”

Mary Sells, vice president of supplier services at ASI, met Carney when she entered the industry as national sales manager for a supplier. “He made himself available to me by phone – whenever – to answer all of my questions, so I could understand the industry, practices and who’s who,” Sells says. “We ran with a pack of friends at trade shows and always had group dinners where Phil would take center stage and entertain us with his mock sermons and other silliness. To this day, nobody except maybe Dan Townes could make me laugh as hard.”

When Townes thinks of his legendary friend, George Jones’ hit song “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes” comes to mind. “I’m so glad that my life allowed me to meet Phil because with no exaggeration whatsoever, I know I’m a better person for being around him,” Townes says.

He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Mary Ann; their children Lynn, Jack, Mike, Kevin and Mary; his brothers Kenneth, Jerry and Larry; and many grandchildren.

Visitation will take place at the Family Center at Schrader Funeral Home and Crematory in Ballwin, MO, on Thursday, April 15, between 4 and 8 p.m. His funeral Mass will take place Friday, April 16 at noon at Holy Infant Catholic Church in Ballwin, MO.

Friends may sign the family’s online guestbook. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to St. Vincent DePaul Society at Holy Infant.