James F. “Jim” Dicke, Sr., New Bremen, Ohio, died on Friday, Nov. 11, 2016.
The namesake of Ohio Northern University’s James F. Dicke College of Business Administration was 94 years old.
Dicke, the chairman emeritus of Crown Equipment Corporation, was born Jan. 30, 1922, in Ilion, New York, and raised in Dayton, Ohio. He took classes at Ohio Northern University in the early 1940s before joining the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He considered both ONU and Culver Military Academy, of which he was an honorary graduate, his schools.
After the war, Dicke returned to Ohio and started Crown Controls Company Inc. in 1945 with his father and other family members. When his father died in 1952, then 31-year-old Dicke was left with full responsibility of the company, which soon moved to the manufacture of small electric forklifts. Today, Crown Equipment Corporation has more than 8,500 employees globally and is the world’s largest manufacturer/distributor of this type of product.
Ohio Northern honored Dicke with an honorary doctorate in 2000. The Dicke House, located on campus, opened in September 2000 and serves as the official home of the University’s president.
In August 2001, Dicke and his wife, Eilleen, announced a major gift to ONU, earmarked toward the construction of a new facility for the business college. Construction began in fall 2001, and James F. Dicke Hall was formally dedicated on Sept. 13, 2004.
After an additional major gift, ONU’s business college was officially renamed The James F. Dicke College of Business Administration on April 2, 2007, recognizing the Dicke family’s past and continuing support of Ohio Northern.
On Jan. 14, 2015, Jim's wife, Eilleen, died. They were married 73 years.
A celebration honoring both their lives will be held on Saturday, Nov. 19, at 3 p.m. at St. Paul United Church of Christ Church in New Bremen, with the Rev. Becky Erb Strang officiating.
The family will be receiving friends from 1-3 p.m. at the church. A memorial fund has been established at the New Bremen Foundation, P.O. Box 97, New Bremen, OH, 45869
