09.05.2021

Pekka Niska 1939 – 2021

We have received the sad news that Finnish crane and access rental veteran Pekka Niska, founder of the company Pekkaniska has died.

He passed away on May 5th, apparently having suffered another stroke, similar to one that left him in a coma in 2009. He was 81.
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Pekka Niska

Originally from Northern Ostrobothnia, in central Finland, he was an entrepreneur from the very start and eventually found his niche in the crane rental market, by 1983 the business he founded, Pekkaniska, covered most of Finland, and he had entered the aerial lift market as well as starting to do business in the Soviet Union, helped by the fact that he was a Russian speaker. During the 1990s recession Niska had to undergo debt restructuring due to large foreign currency debt on equipment. It was said that he managed to pay off his debts by expanding his Russian operations.

In July 2009 a sudden stroke left him in a coma for almost three months and left him blind for period for three years.

In 1996, his son Janne had founded his own rental company, Janneniska with a focus on truck mounted lifts. He also stepped in and took over the management of Pekkaniska when his father fell ill, Janne Niska died suddenly in 2014 at which point the management of the two companies separated again.
Pekka Niska loved all forms of exercise and tried to encourage his employees to follow his lead and to adopt a healthy lifestyle, with additional bonuses for things such as stopping smoking or drinking as well as excercising.

He gained some additional notoriety in 2007 when he tried to build a large dance hall in Helsinki on stage, in place of an existing warehouse. The local government opposed the idea, and the project was abandoned when he became ill. The site was later developed into a new central library.
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Pekka Niska at a 2005 ballroom dancing competition accompanied by Merja Kimari

Pekka Niska was a real character, in the 1980s and later his car of choice was a long American stretched limo, which he loved to drive around Helsinki, and if he met you at the airport for the first time acted as though he was some sort of limo driver. The world has lost an unusual character.