Gerald Pirpich, vice president of marketing and pricing for ABF Freight System, Inc., will retire January 31, 2004, after 38 years with the company. He will be replaced by Chris Baltz, director of marketing and public relations who joined ABF in 1989 as an analyst in the company's pricing department.
Pirpich joined ABF in 1966 as a dispatcher at the Fort Smith, Arkansas service center. He moved to the general office in 1968 where he held various Traffic Department positions over the next several years. He was promoted to director of pricing in 1982, a position he held for 20 years. In late 2002 he was named vice president of marketing and pricing for ABF, his current position.