NOCO Energy Corporation
NOCO Energy was founded in Tonawanda in 1933 by Reginald B. Newman as a
one-employee, one-truck company delivering coal to residential customers in the
Buffalo area.The company has come a long way in the last seven-plus decades. Today, the third-generation family-owned business is one of Western New York's largest suppliers of energy and petroleum products. The firm operates several gasoline and convenience stores throughout the region and recently launched two new divisions: NOCO Bioproducts, which sells and distributes agriculturally-based renewable products; and NOCO Energy Marketing, LLC, which markets natural gas throughout Western New York and Northern Pennsylvania.
Throughout NOCO's history, the company has pursued growth. In the late 1930s, Reginald B. Newman shifted the focus of sales efforts from coal to fuel oil and in 1950 expanded the company to serve small commercial and industrial customers with lubricants, gasoline and diesel fuel.
Reginald's sons, Donald F. Newman and Reginald B. Newman II, joined the company in 1954 and 1960, respectively, and continued to expand the business. In 1964, the company purchased its first retail full-service gasoline station. In 1971, Donald and Reginald II assumed control of the company and by 1982 the firm had become Western New York's largest home heating fuel distributor.
The company continued to grow over the next 20 years. Today, NOCO supplies gasoline, diesel fuels, industrial and residential heating fuels, aviation fuels, chemicals and asphalts to a variety of customers and also operates 39 NOCO Express stores. The firm employs approximately 560 people in New York and Vermont.
A third generation of the Newman family is actively involved in the business. Donald Newman and Reginald Newman II continue to serve on the NOCO Board of Directors, while Donald's sons, James and Michael Newman, were named president and vice president, respectively, in 2001.
NOCO supports several Buffalo-area community organizations, including Shea's Performing Arts Center, the United Way and BPO.