Published: May 11, 2008 11:29 pm         

O’Leary’s death shocks Valley

Long-time businessman died Friday

TERRE HAUTE — Patrick O’Leary was described as a hero and best friend to his four sons, and as a man who loved Terre Haute by the many in the business community who knew him.

O’Leary, who died Friday at age 71 after suffering a stroke, was a longtime businessman and Terre Haute advocate whose unexpected passing shocked and saddened his many associates.

As one of the longest-serving members on the board of directors for First Financial Corp., the former owner of West Central Indiana Concrete Supply Corp, and former director of the Alliance for Growth and Progress (the precursor to the Terre Haute Economic Development Corp.), O’Leary was dedicated to making his hometown a better place.

Fred Rubey, one of O’Leary’s lifelong friends, said Sunday that O’Leary had three priorities: his family, his church and his community.

“First, his family,” Rubey said. “He’s very proud of his four boys, and their children … Second, his church. He was a very active member of St. Ben[edict]’s … and finally, his community. He was so involved with so many things around the community. He was a big salesman for Terre Haute.”

Rubey, a neighbor and friend of O’Leary’s for about 45 years, called his friend, “one of the best people that I’ve ever known.”

Rubey added that O’Leary had a very strong faith in God, was “very loyal to his friends,” and was an “all-around good person.”

O’Leary served on the First Financial Corporation Board of Directors from 1973 until his death and was president of Terre Haute Concrete Supply Corporation until its sale in 1984. He served as executive director of the Terre Haute Alliance for Growth and Progress from 1987 to 1993.

He served as president of the Downtown Rotary Club, Terre Haute Area Chamber of Commerce, Terre Haute Committee for Area Progress, and Mid-West Ready Mixed Concrete Association. O’Leary also served as chairman of Indiana Manufacturer’s Association and Wabash Valley Board of Associates of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. O’Leary was past director of the Indiana Savings and Loan Association and National Ready Mixed Concrete Association. He was one of the founding members of the Wabash Valley Community Foundation.

In addition to his many civic and business associations, O’Leary founded the Terre Haute Boys and Girls First Fishing Club in 1999, an organization that brought him a great deal of joy, according to friends and family.

Jimmy Smith, executive director of the Terre Haute Boys and Girls Club, who said he had known the O’Leary family for about 30 years, called Patrick O’Leary “one of the finest gentlemen I ever met.”

Smith said it wasn’t long after he took over the Boys and Girls Club in 1998 that O’Leary approached him about starting a fishing club.

“Every year he’d buy fishing poles for the kids, he’d make sure they all had hats and shirts that said First Fishing Club and that had the Boys and Girls Club logo,” Smith said. “It’s really big for our summer kids … It was something he loved to do, all voluntary … he was just a very giving person, a great guy.”

Smith added that the program will continue and that “we plan on putting Mr. O’Leary’s name on the program.”

“He’ll be missed,” Smith said. “Definitely by our kids in the Boys and Girls Club.”

Terry Tevlin, marketing director at First Financial Bank, said O’Leary’s death was “a shock.”

He recalled his friend as one of the “most positive, happy individuals I can ever remember.”

Tevlin said his father knew O’Leary “way back in the concrete business,” and added that the two families and a large group of friends would get together “every saturday for lunch at the Saratoga.” Since then, Tevlin and O’Leary had been associates at the bank.

“For the bank he was phenomenal. He was a big cheerleader for the bank,” Tevlin said. “Even more so, he was a cheerleader for the community … he was a friend to a lot of the small businesses in town. He had a lot of years of business experience behind him … and was very sharp and astute when it came to business. Everybody valued his opinion and his advice.”

Tevlin called O’Leary a “big-time Irishman” with a “booming voice,” as well as a “great sunflower grower” who was always quick to lend a hand.

“He was a jolly, robust, happy person,” Tevlin added. “I’m really gonna miss him.”

Herm Rassel, owner of the former Herm Rassel men’s store downtown (1932- 2001), said in a phone interview Sunday that he and O’Leary had known each other “for years and years and years.”

The two served in civic organizations together and both served on the Chamber of Commerce board, Rassel said.

“He’s always been a leader,” Rassel said. “He was a great guy.”

Don Smith, chairman and CEO of First Financial Bank, echoed many of the sentiments expressed by others about O’Leary.

Smith said he had known O’Leary for many years, as well as his father and mother before him.

“We thought he was an absolute good businessman,” Smith said of O’Leary’s association with the bank. “He had a lot of friends and people he’d done business with … as a person, he was just a gentleman and very much itnerested in Terre Haute and the community. He was involved in just about everything Terre Haute had at one time or another.

“He was also very interested in the youth of the community,” Smith added, remarking on O’Leary’s work with the Boys and Girls Club in starting the Fishing Club. O’Leary loved to fish, Smith said, and, “He loved to have the children around him.”

Describing his friend and colleague as a man who enjoyed playing gin rummy and going to races, Smith said, “He was just an all-around fellow … as a very close friend of his, acquaintance and associate, why, I’m gonna miss him. In fact, the last few days, I just can’t get it out of my mind that he will not be with us anymore. He just was a friend and a fellow that you’re very, very proud of.”

O’Leary’s four sons – Pat, Jeff, Tom and Mike – spoke about their dad Sunday. Not wanting to be singled out, the four said they all shared the same feelings and thoughts about their “hero.”

“He was a great father, and he loved his wife very much … He was a great dad that taught us all how to be a dad in every sense of that word – not only how to love and respect our wives but our children and other people,” Pat O’Leary said, speaking for himself and his brothers.

“He became all of our – if you’d ask any of us who our best friend in the world is – it’d be Pops, there’s absolutely no question … he taught us how to respect others, especially the less fortunate and the needy.

“I look at him as a hero, my hero,” Pat continued. “Someone I would give anything to duplicate.”

As for their father’s influence on the community, O’Leary’s sons said their dad “promoted the Terre Haute community all the time,” even before he was director of the Alliance for Growth & Progress.

“He loved Terre Haute, he was proud of where he was born and raised,” the O’Learys said. “He just loved the community and the people in it, he thought it was a great place to raise a family.

“It’s a sad day for all of us, but it’s also … you know, we got to know a man who was pretty darn special.”

O’Leary was a 1954 graduate of Wiley High School and received his bachelor’s degree in business from Indiana University in 1958, where he met his wife to be, Randy Wellington.

They were married May 23, 1959 in the Notre Dame Cathedral on the campus of Notre Dame.

Mass of Christian Burial will be at 12:05 p.m. Tuesday, May 13, 2008, in St. Benedict Church, 111 S. Ninth St., with Father Joel Burget officiating. Public visitation will also be in St. Benedict Church and will take place on Monday from 3 to 7 p.m.

The family kindly requests that donations in Pat’s memory be made to St. Benedict Church, 111 S. Ninth St., Terre Haute, IN 47807; or to Terre Haute Boys and Girls First Fishing Club, 220 N. Third St., Terre Haute, IN 47807.



Deb Kelly can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or deb.kelly@tribstar.com.