When people see the name Phillips Tree Service, they may assume that's where our story began.

It isn't.

Our history reaches back through General Arborists Inc., and even further to General Tree Service of Ithaca, operated by longtime Ithaca “tree surgeon” John Ewanicki.

Over the decades, company names have changed, ownership has passed from one generation to another, and the equipment used to do the work has evolved tremendously.

But there is a direct thread connecting that history to the work we're still doing today.

It's a story about trees, but it's also a story about mentorship, family, community, and passing a trade from one generation to the next.

Our Roots Run Deep

The name has changed, but generations of Ithaca-area tree care, mentorship, family, and hard work continue today.

OUR TREE-CARE ROOTS

‍ ‍1951‍ ‍ EARLY 1960s 1967 1992 TODAY

‍ ‍ ●───────────────●────────────────────●─────────────────●─────────────────●

‍ ‍John General General Phillips Phillips

graduates Tree Arborists family Tree

from Cornell Service Inc. takes the Service

reins

Where Our Roots Began

The history behind Phillips Tree Service begins long before our family name appeared on the trucks.

Our story begins with John Ewanicki, a respected Ithaca-area tree professional who was known in his day as a “tree surgeon”, the term commonly used at the time for skilled professionals who cared for, pruned and preserved trees. Long before the Phillips Tree Service name existed, John was building a reputation for knowledgeable, meticulous tree care throughout the Ithaca community.

John Ewanicki was already establishing roots in Ithaca in the years following World War II. By 1947, John and his wife, Marion, were living in Ithaca while John attended Cornell University, and Marion was working for Cornell.

John graduated from Cornell in 1951 and went on to build his career in professional tree care.

By the early 1960s, Cornell records identify John as the owner of General Tree Service of Ithaca.

John’s career in professional tree care began well before General Arborists Inc., establishing a local tree-care legacy that reaches back more than six decades — one that would eventually become intertwined with the Phillips family and continues through Phillips Tree Service today.

John, Marion & A Family Business

Family was part of this story long before the Phillips family became involved.

John’s wife, Marion Ewanicki, had her own strong connection to Cornell and the Ithaca community. She worked for Cornell during John’s student years and was later involved with the Cornell Women’s Club of Ithaca, including serving as its treasurer.

As John’s tree business grew and General Arborists Inc. was established in 1967, Marion became involved in the business as well.

John and Marion raised their family in Ithaca, and their son Peter Ewanicki would go on to work for General Arborists for many years. Peter’s obituary would later describe General Arborists simply as “the family business.”

That small detail says something important about the company John built. Long before Phillips Tree Service became a husband-and-wife operation, the business that preceded ours was also closely tied to the family behind it.

A Legacy Written Into Ithaca's Landscape

John’s work wasn’t limited to the customers he served. He developed a particularly meaningful relationship with Cornell University and its trees.

During a period when Dutch elm disease was dramatically changing Cornell’s historic landscape, John contributed his knowledge, time, and trees to the University. Historical Cornell accounts credit him with helping provide significant trees throughout campus, including red oaks on the Arts Quad, concolor firs on the Engineering Quad, and a black oak on the Ag Quad.

John also spent time scouting local woodlands for native specimens suitable for transplanting and contributed to Cornell’s reforestation efforts.

In the 1960s, he became part of a tree-donation tradition with Cornell professor Clinton P. Rossiter. After Rossiter learned that John planned to donate a large tree in honor of his Cornell class, he offered to contribute another for each tree John donated.

John’s connection to Cornell wasn’t temporary. Decades later, Cornell Botanic Gardens’ living collection records still identify John Ewanicki as the source for specimens within its collection, including several species of trees.

For a tree professional, it’s hard to imagine a more fitting legacy. Some of the trees connected to John’s work became part of the landscape of the same community where he built his business — and where our family continues working today.

General Arborists Inc.

John’s early General Tree Service eventually gave way to General Arborists Inc., established in Ithaca in 1967.

Historical Ithaca directories later identify John as president of General Arborists, operating from 1306 East State Street in Ithaca.

The company provided professional tree services throughout the area, including tree and shrub removal, stump removal, and even large-tree relocation.

John was also involved in the community outside of his business. During the 1970s, he served on the City of Ithaca Board of Public Works, including time as vice chairman.

Over the years, General Arborists became an established part of the Ithaca-area tree-care industry. And eventually, another tree professional working alongside John would become an important part of its future: Otis’s father.

The Phillips Family Takes the Reins

The Phillips family’s connection to General Arborists didn’t begin with purchasing the company.

It began years earlier.

Otis Phillips’ father spent many years working alongside John Ewanicki, learning the tree-care trade through hands-on experience and John’s mentorship.

He learned by doing the work — climbing, cutting, rigging, working with equipment, handling difficult trees, and developing the judgment that comes only from years spent in the field.

John wasn’t simply his employer.

He was his mentor.

Then, in 1992, when John’s time with General Arborists came to an end, Otis’ father took over the business.

That transition is an important part of our history.

He wasn’t an outsider purchasing a tree company and entering an unfamiliar industry. He was taking ownership of the same business where he had already spent years working, learning, and developing his trade alongside the man who built it.

The business changed hands, but the knowledge behind it had already been passed down.

Continuing General Arborists

The company retained the General Arborists name under Phillips family ownership and continued serving the Ithaca area for years.

As the company evolved, its location, equipment, and day-to-day operations changed, but General Arborists continued providing professional tree services throughout the area.

Federal business records from the mid-2000s document General Arborists operating in Ithaca with several commercial vehicles and drivers — a small surviving snapshot of the company during the years after John’s ownership.

But the most important thing Otis’ father carried forward couldn’t be measured by trucks or equipment.

It was the knowledge and experience that had been passed to him.

Eventually, he would pass it down again.

From Father to Son

Otis grew up around the tree business.

For him, tree work wasn’t an industry he discovered later in life. It was something he grew up watching, learning, and eventually doing alongside his father.

Just as his father had learned through years of working beside John, Otis learned the trade through years of working beside his father.

He learned to climb, cut, rig, operate equipment, work from the ground and in the canopy, and approach difficult tree work safely.

But the lessons went beyond how to take down a tree.

They included how to look at a difficult job and develop a plan, how to care for someone’s property, how to work safely, how to treat customers, and how important your reputation becomes when you spend your career working in the same communities where you live.

In many ways, the story came full circle.

John taught and mentored Otis’ father. His father carried that knowledge forward and passed it to Otis.

Eventually, Otis took over the family business himself, and in time, the General Arborists name gave way to Phillips Tree Service.

A New Name — Not a New Beginning

That distinction is one of the most important parts of our story.

Phillips Tree Service wasn’t the beginning of our family’s tree-service experience.

It was a new name for the next chapter of a much older story.

We don’t claim that the Phillips Tree Service name itself has existed for more than 60 years. What we are proud to say is that the tree-care tradition, experience, mentorship, and business lineage behind Phillips Tree Service has documented roots in Ithaca stretching back more than six decades.

There is a direct line connecting that history:

John Ewanicki and General Tree Service
‍ ‍ ↓
General Arborists Inc.
↓
Years of mentorship between John and Otis’ father
↓
Phillips family ownership of General Arborists
↓
A father passing the trade to his son
‍ ‍↓
Phillips Tree Service today

The names changed.

The knowledge continued.

Phillips Tree Service Today

Today, Otis Phillips owns and operates Phillips Tree Service, carrying that history forward while continuing to grow the business for the future.

After all these years, it remains very much a family operation.

Otis personally handles property walk through and estimates. When you meet with us about your trees, you’re meeting directly with the person who will be responsible for the work.

When the crew arrives, Otis is there doing the cutting and overseeing the job from start to finish.

His wife works alongside him running the office side of the business — handling scheduling, estimates, customer communication, paperwork, and the countless details behind the scenes that keep a small family business moving.

Together with a small, hardworking ground crew, we’ve intentionally kept Phillips Tree Service personal and hands-on.

You aren’t passed from a salesperson to a crew you’ve never met.

The person who walks your property, talks through your options, and quotes the job is the same person responsible for making sure the work is completed safely and correctly.

Generations of Knowledge. Modern Equipment.

We’re proud of the old-school knowledge behind this company, but that doesn’t mean we’re doing tree work the way it was done generations ago.

Tree care has changed. Safety has changed. And equipment has changed tremendously.

Today, we combine generations of hands-on experience with modern equipment that allows us to tackle difficult jobs more safely, efficiently, and with less impact on our customers’ properties.

One of the newest additions to our fleet is our 90-foot CMC spider lift. Its combination of tremendous reach and a compact footprint allows us to access trees in tight or difficult locations where traditional bucket trucks and larger equipment may not be practical. Its design also helps us minimize unnecessary impact to lawns and landscaping.

Along with our commercial wood chipper, stump grinders, specialized rigging equipment, and other machinery, we’re equipped to handle everything from everyday tree care to complicated removals and challenging access situations.

But we’ve never forgotten something the generations before us understood:

Owning the equipment doesn’t give you the experience to know how to use it.

That comes from years of doing the work.

Carrying the Legacy Forward

For us, continuing this business isn’t only about honoring the generations that came before us.

It’s also about the generation growing up behind us.

Today, we’re raising three young children while continuing to build and grow Phillips Tree Service. They’re growing up around a family business much like Otis did — watching their parents work together, seeing the long days and hard work that go into running a small business, and learning that having your family name on the truck means something.

We don’t know what paths they’ll choose when they grow up, and that’s theirs to decide.

Maybe someday one of them will choose to carry the trade forward for another generation. Maybe they’ll choose completely different paths.

Either way, we want them to know the story behind what their family built — about John and the business that started this history, how their grandfather learned the trade working alongside him, and how their father learned from their grandfather.

Most importantly, we want them to grow up understanding the hard work, integrity, responsibility, and pride that allowed each generation to build upon what the generation before them left behind.

Our goal isn’t to decide their future for them.

It’s to leave them something worth being proud of.

The Name Changed. The Roots Didn't.

From John Ewanicki and General Tree Service, through General Arborists, from mentor to father and father to son, the knowledge behind the work has continued from one generation to the next.

Today, we’re proud to carry that history forward as Phillips Tree Service.