When a person starts a successful business that endures for, say, a decade or more, people begin to speculate if it will eventually pass to another generation of the family. Many times it doesn’t.
In Longview, Texas, the Pither family is an exception. Pither Plumbing has endured for 74 years and is thriving under the leadership of third-generation owner Patrick Pither. What’s more, a fourth generation is in place to carry on the family legacy. Not one but two sons of the owner are fully engaged in the company’s work.
Pither has been at the helm for two decades now. He took over for his father who had taken ownership of the company from Pither’s grandfather, the man who initially founded the business in 1952. Pither’s two sons, 24-year-old Patrick Lee Pither III and 22-year-old Brennen Jack Pither, are next in line.
They have, in a manner of speaking, been in the business about as long as their father. That’s because when their mother, Brandi, lost her banking job in 2002, Pither built a nursery in the Pither Plumbing office so she could work alongside him. Consequently, the boys almost literally grew up in the business.
The elder son eventually went to college and earned a business degree, immediately joining the company after graduation.
“He is learning the trade from the ground up,” Pither says.
Meanwhile, Brennen took a different course. He worked half-days with the company while in high school and opted to become a full-time Pither Plumbing employee right after graduation. Today he is lead man of one of the drain cleaning crews, married and a father settling into a career with the company.
“He has put in the hard work,” Pither says. “Both of these boys, I couldn’t ask for anything more. They are super confident and fine young men.
“I’m in a good place to expand. I have the personnel.”
Which is to say, another Pither generation is coming on.
Read more about Pither Plumbing in the June 2026 issue of Cleaner magazine.
