04/02/2026
Good evening, everyone.
This has been a long time coming (and most of you are aware already because most of you following the Top Shelf page were Joe's friends), but my business partner, Joe Lang, passed away on February 23rd, surrounded in love by his family.
He was the best friend and business partner a guy could ever ask for.
Joe and I met in 2008 when he joined Farmers Insurance as an adjuster. He was a roofer with his father's company before moving over to the insurance side. I was the trainer at Farmers and immediately hit it off with Joe, and would occasionally invite him down to Hastings to watch Wild games together. We had similar senses of humor and I could always count on Joe to laugh at random videos I would play (lots of them featuring SNL's MacGruber or ladder fails) during boring training sessions. He left Farmers after a couple of years and went over to Travelers Insurance. In 2013, I also made the move over to Travelers. In March of 2022, I left Travelers and, after twisting Joe's arm a bit, convinced him to leave his adjuster gig at Main Street America and become my partner at Top Shelf.
We swore from the very beginning that integrity and communication would be the foundation of our business. We shared the same values, work ethic, and focus on customer service. By doing that, we built a successful company that not only allowed us to do a great job for our customers, but also allowed us to create lasting memories that I'll cherish forever.
There must've been 300-400 people at Joe's Celebration of Life and many stories and laughs were shared. One story stuck with me though. One of Joe's closest friends shared that he viewed people in his life as either draining his cup or filling it up. He said that, in all the time he knew Joe, he could never think of a day when Joe didn't add to his cup. And that was Joe. Super positive. Full of energy. Always smiling. Always encouraging. He loved his family and friends so much, and, in return, so many people loved him.
Like my brother says, the pain we feel when we lose someone is a testament to their character and how close we were to them. Though I wish Joe and I could have made many more memories for years to come, I'm so thankful for the 18 years that Joe was in my life and the memories that I do have of him.
You won at life, Joe. Now rest in peace, my friend.
