Lewis McCreary

Lew McCreary was born in January 1921, the second of five sons of Robert Grosvenor McCreary and Helen Galvin McCreary. He graduated from University School in 1939 and attended Amherst College before enlisting in the U.S. Army during World War 2. He served in Europe in the 13th Armored Division. Toward the end of the war he met and courted Margaret Peg Sturges, whom he recounts having met while standing in line at Hough Bakeries at Fairmount & Cedar. They married in August 1945, while he was still in the service. After his discharge he worked in Cleveland for Barker & Sons, an office-supply company, and later for Morgan Lithograph, a printing company whose work included large movie posters displayed outside of theaters. In the late 1950s he joined Brown & Gage, a screen-printing company that he later bought and ran, until his retirement in the mid-1980s. He served a term as president of the Screen Printers Association, a national industry group. He and Peg McCreary had three children: Lew of Waltham, MA, Margo of Minneapolis, and Peter, who died in 1979. He was devoted to his children and to Peg, the love of his life, who died in 2008. He was a member of the Mayfield Country Club, the Hermit Club, the Novel Club of Cleveland, and the Sankaty Head Golf Club in Nantucket, where he owned a vacation home that he and his brothers had inherited from their father. During his years as a golfer in Cleveland, he served a term as president of the Cleveland District Golf Association. He described himself as a "dedicated hacker," and was rumored to possess the highest golf handicap 21 of any CDGA president in history. He was devoted to his four brothers, Bob, Tom, Donald, and Dusty, all of whom predeceased him. Like many of his generation, the camaraderie a�" and the traumatic losses a�" of the war led him to cherish his friendships deeply. After the war, he and a number of Cleveland friends founded the Forest City Investment Club, which grew and prospered for 50 years. Although the club's investments were generally fruitful, it seemed the purposes of the members were more collegial than financial. Besides being a steadfast friend, he was also great wit and storytellera�"both orally and in writing. His minutes of investment club meetings were often hilarious. Consequently, it was a duty he could not easily abandon. Until a few years ago, he was scribe to the doings of his Amherst College classmates, compiling amusing notes for the alumni magazine. On October 1, he died peacefully at the age of 90 at Judson Manor. He is survived by his two children, Lew and Margo; by three grandchildren, Molly and Hannah McCreary, and Stella Doughty; and by many nieces and nephews. The family prefers that those who wish may make contributions in his name the Judson Foundation, 2181 Ambleside Drive, Cleveland, OH 44106. A Memorial Service will be held at 10am on Thursday, October 6 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 2747 Fairmount Blvd, Cleveland Hts., OH.


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