T.Y. Martin dies at age 76

An industrialist, an oilman and "a Kentucky gentleman," Thomas Young Martin of Culpeper died Wednesday in his home following a four-year battle with lung disease. He was 76.

Known to friends and family as T.Y., Martin helped his older brother, N.B., run the former Rental Uniform Services - now Cintas - for 20-plus years.

The late N.B. Martin founded R.U.S. in 1960 with one location in Culpeper, but with the help of his brother the company grew dramatically, expanding to 26 other plants in 10 states, according to a feature article about both brothers in the Star-Exponent Feb. 23, 1991.

"I was the vice president, but titles were a little more generous then," T.Y. said at the time. "I guess you could say I had such a nice position because I had some relative ability."

The brothers' business initiative also spawned a holding company, Omni Services, which Cintas purchased in 2002.

T.Y.'s work in textiles, however, was not his first business endeavor. Before he joined his brother in Culpeper, he worked at IBM for 14 years.

But his life's work was more extensive than that. After earning a degree in civil engineering from the University of Kentucky, he joined the Army and got a job with Standard Oil.

In that capacity, T.Y. spent 18 months in Iraq during the late 1950s as one of a team of specialists teaching the Iraqi government how to operate its one and only oil refinery.

But he came back home to Kentucky after the Iraqi government was overthrown in 1959.

Born and raised in Kentucky to a working class family, T.Y. and his brother spent several years in the state's Appalachia coal mining area.

The family didn't have much, but the Martin brothers told the Star-Exponent they never wanted for anything.

Though much of his life was spent in the business world, T.Y.'s widow Shirlee Martin remembered a man who was gentle, warm and generous.

"I always called him my Kentucky gentleman," she said Thursday.

"He was quite a businessman, but he had a very, very soft side to him," she added.

Mrs. Martin said she would always remember that side of him and how well he treated her.

She said he passed quietly in his sleep at 4 a.m. Wednesday after several years of declining health.

Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or abrophy@ starexponent.com