Obituary
O.L. ‘Peter’ Bibeau
Longtime Utility Contractor and Trade Association Advisor Passes at 92
MIDDLETOWN, NY—Ovila Leodore “Peter” Bibeau, a contractor and civil engineer who sold his company and retired from the utility construction industry in 2015 after more than 55 years in business, died on Tues., Oct. 24, at the Garnet Health Medical Center here in Orange County. He was a resident of Wurtsboro, NY, and was 92.
At the height of his business enterprise, Mr. Bibeau was the owner and CEO of Bibeau Construction, a contracting firm he founded in 1962. Based in Valley Cottage, NY, the company was renamed Spar Construction Co., Inc., in 2013. It employed up to 85 building tradesmen and women from the Operating Engineers and the Laborers from Union Locals 60, 1000, 754 and 17. Among Mr. Bibeau’s many customers in the utility sector were Con Edison, Central Hudson Gas and Electric, Orange & Rockland Utilities, Public Service Gas & Electric of New Jersey and Verizon.
In 2015, Mr. Bibeau sold the Spar enterprise to the heavy construction contractor Posillico Civil Inc. of Farmingdale, NY, which at the time was seeking a groomed pathway into the growing Hudson Valley marketplace.
Mr. Bibeau was also engaged in construction-industry affairs and served as a board member of several regional construction trade associations, including as a founding member of a group that eventually came under the umbrella of the Construction Industry Council (CIC).
Mr. Bibeau was the son of the late Leodore Bibeau and Melvina Yandow Bibeau, born May 2, 1931, in Colchester, VT, in the northern part of the state near Burlington. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army, serving in Germany during the Korean War. He was a graduate of the University of Vermont and Farleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.
For more than 35 years, Mr. Bibeau was an avid horseman and polo player, owning horse farms in New York and South Carolina. During the polo season, he competed at major polo centers in New England, New York, the Carolinas and Florida. He was also a licensed helicopter pilot—a skill he used to oversee construction project progress at disparate locations in the Hudson Valley. He traveled widely and was also an avid reader.
His family wrote that “Peter loved his family and was very proud of them.” He is survived by two daughters: Julie Mennella (Giovanni) of Wurtsboro, and Lynn Ritchel (Gary) of Evansville, IN; and two grandchildren: Peter Luke Williams (Joanne) and Lynn Maslatzides (Alexandros). He is also survived by 10 great grandchildren; and four great great grandchildren. He was predeceased by a grandson: Donald E. Williams III; and two brothers: David and Robert Bibeau.
Family and friends gathered on Mon., Oct. 30, at the VanInwegen-Kenny Funeral Home, 111 Sullivan St. in Wurtsboro with a prayer service. A private burial was held Tues., Oct. 31, at the St. Mary’s Cemetery in Tuxedo Park, NY.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Louis G. Nappi Construction Industry Labor-Management Scholarship Fund, 629 Old White Plains Road, Tarrytown, NY 10591. Make checks payable to the Construction Industry Council (CIC). Memorial contributions may also be made to the Friends of the Mamakating Library, 128 Sullivan St., PO Box 381, Wurtsboro, NY 12790.