Remembering Paul Cigala, one-of-a-kind lubricants expert for ExxonMobil and TMC: 1966-2025

Cigala, a passionate Philadelphia Flyers fan, was born in Vineland, New Jersey and raised in nearby Landisville. He started his career as a diesel technician in the mid ’80s and in 1989, began working for Mobil as a lab tech. He continued on after the merger with Exxon (at the end of 1999) for the rest of his career. His last role was as a senior commercial vehicle lubricants applications engineer, but even that long title does not fully explain what he did for the trucking industry.

In addition to volunteer work with the Knights and Columbus in New Jersey and Indiana, Cigala offered much of his spare time, expertise, and wisdom to TMC since becoming a member in 2015.  A mainstay in the S.3 Engine Study Group, he served as 2nd Vice Chairman, Task Force Chairman, and Task Force Secretary for several Task Forces, including RP 365 Update (Coolant Maintenance Guidelines), RP 326A Update (Recycled Engine Coolant), and RP 338A Update (Extended Service Interval Coolants). He also contributed to the development of several engine-related RPs, according to TMC.

For many years, he was also a reliable source for Fleet Maintenance on all things related to engine oil, quick with responses and helping to educate our editors and audience. The last time I saw Paul was at the 2024 TMC Annual Meeting in New Orleans, where he was awarded the Silver Spark Plug Award. The energetic Cigala was now in a wheelchair and weakened from cancer treatment. Still, he volunteered to help with a story we were working on about the upcoming API engine oil standards and continued to offer quotes into early 2025. Offering any of what strength he had left to help educate other maintenance professionals tells you all you need to know about the kind of guy Cigala was.

But he deserves a lot more than one anecdote, so we asked several of his colleagues to offer their thoughts as well.

TMC Executive Director Robert Braswell said:

“Paul Cigala was truly dedicated to this industry and the fleets he supported in his role at ExxonMobil. More importantly, Paul understood the need to band together for the good of the collective industry beyond parochial company interests, and his work in the Council’s S.3 Engine & Motor Study Group clearly demonstrated that, which is why he rightly received TMC’s highest honor—the Silver Spark Plug—in 2024.”

Radu Mihai, 2025-2026 TMC general chairman and treasurer and corporate fleet manager, BURNCO Rock Products, said:

 “Paul was a true professional and earned the respect of peer TMC members through his devotion to getting the job done. He was always striving for the best outcome.”

Mihai chaired the S.3 group for many years and worked directly with Cigala.

“Paul quickly established himself as a trusted advisor to go to with any oil and lube-related questions, and I can recall several times he educated me and, in the process, made me realize how much I still have to learn. Yet Paul had a way of sharing his knowledge in a non-threatening, non-superior manner that made me feel valued and almost like being coached. I can assume this came from his passion and professionalism, and we were blessed to have had him within our ranks.”

 Mihai also pointed to Cigala’s light-hearted spirit:

“On a personal note, I will miss Paul and all the jokes and fun we had at every TMC meeting, as a small group of us always made sure to be at the same table.”

George Arrants, VP of the ASE Education Foundation, also cited his passion for trucking:

“He was a true professional and never gave up; his commitment to our industry was second to none.”

Arrants worked with Cigala on a technician hiring podcast in 2021, which you can listen to here. One prescient line Cigala told me while discussing the podcast is timeless advice:

“Really focus on making sure that the technicians coming out of schools are prepared to get into the industry and are onboarded correctly. If he doesn't feel part of the family—maybe struggling and nobody’s helping him or watching over his shoulder—he’ll be gone in less than a year, on to something else.”

Brian P. Liimatta, Cummins heavy duty VPI quality leader, talked about how Cigala was an inspiring force:

“The biggest thing I learned, and will miss, from the past 10 years (we both started attending TMC at the same time) is the value of a positive attitude and the value of friendship. I can only hope that all of us will have the same positivity and perseverance when/if life throws a nasty curveball our way. We need to stay in the batter’s box.”

A big tell on how well a person lived their life is how their competitors describe them. And Jason Miller, CITGO’s lubricants manager for East Region Sales, did not hesitate to immediately honor Cigala’s memory online and via our request for comment:

“The longtime manager of the CITGO Heavy-Duty channel of business, Mark Betner, retired in 2020. Shortly after his retirement I was moved into his role in a kind of hybrid sales/marketing role.

Of course, TMC had a few iterations during the days of COVID, so I didn’t have a chance to see Paul directly after he learned of my promotion, but at our next in-person interaction, he sought me out on the tradeshow floor. He wanted to give me a congrats, but also remind me that it was now my responsibility to train people in this space the right way, to provide good information, and be a good steward of both the lubricants and trucking industries. To me that distills who Paul was: a kind competitor who saw enough space for all of us, but one who truly cared about the business and our role in it.”

To leave a memory of Paul for his family and friends to see, you can visit the official obituary here: https://www.randallroberts.com/obituaries/paul-cigala