Mark A. Alexander served as Suburban Propane’s first CEO

Mark A. Alexander, former president and CEO of Suburban Propane Partners, died Oct. 28 at the age of 68. He had been battling glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer.

Alexander served as Suburban’s first CEO and as a supervisor beginning in March 1996, when the partnership went public, until September 2009. He held the role of president from October 1996 until May 2005 and was executive vice chairman from March 1996 through October 1996.

When Michael J. Dunn Jr. succeeded Alexander as CEO in 2009, Harold R. Logan Jr., chairman of the partnership’s board of supervisors, said, “We are extremely grateful to Mark Alexander for his outstanding service to Suburban Propane. He and Michael Dunn have built a very strong organization since 1997 and have shaped our current operating and financial structure to be one of the strongest in the propane industry, as well as the MLP (master limited partnership) environment in general.”

Alexander served as a marketing member on the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) from 2005-09 and as chairman of PERC’s Research & Development Advisory Committee from 2000-03. In a 2015 interview with LP Gas, Alexander said he also served with the National Propane Gas Association and helped it relocate from Chicago to Washington, D.C.

“We were competitors, but also we were friends. We became good friends after he retired,” says Joe Armentano, CEO of New York-based Paraco Gas, of Alexander. “He was ahead of his time, pushing R&D when nobody else was. He was a lone wolf for a period of time.”

Before joining Suburban Propane, Alexander worked for Price Waterhouse and Hanson Industries. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

In retirement, Alexander founded a real estate investment company focused on restoring historic properties.

Alexander was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, and raised in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. He was a longtime resident of Blauvelt, New York.

Read Alexander’s obituary on the Hannemann Funeral Home website.

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