James Streeter

James R. Streeter, age 86, of Erie, died Thursday, November 13, 2014 at UPMC Hamot.

He was born in Toledo, Ohio, November 1, 1928, the was the son of the late Walter E. and Georgia E. Purcell Streeter. The Colonel had a quick wit and great sense of humor.

He attended public schools in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan and received his formal education at Bowling Green University, Bowling Green, Ohio.

During the Korean War he served the 114th Engineer Combat Battalion and was later transferred to the Special Services section of the 32nd Group at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin to serve as Post Athletic NCO where he played Baseball and Golf for the 5th Army teams. He was honorably discharged in 1952.

He moved to Erie from Toledo in 1953 and had been employed at Kaiser Aluminum Corp. until 1958 when he became General Sales Manager of the Erie Tool Works, during which time he served a term as President of Sales and Marketing Executives Club of Erie.

He purchased and became President of Erie Industrial Trucks, Inc., the area’s franchised dealer of Clark Equipment, in 1962. He earned several “President of the Year” awards for the company’s outstanding contributions in the areas of sales, market penetration and customer services. He had also served the Clark Dealer Council. He was appointed Chairman and CEO in January, 1987, a position he held until his death. In 1995 he formed Wellco Equipment as a Cat Lift Truck dealership and in 2004 opened Bobcat of Erie as a construction equipment dealership in Waterford.

He was an avid golfer during his lifetime and had won club championships at three country clubs including the Kahkwa Club. He had made seven holes in one in his golfing lifetime.

He was an Erie District Golf Association senior champion on two occasions, 1979 and 1983. He initiated an annual dinner and awards affair to honor the EDGA Senior Champions and the EDGA Senior Streeter Cup Better Ball winners held at Kahkwa Club where the players receive a Blue Blazer and Champion’s Patch.

He had played twenty four years for the Erie Golf Team in the “League of Lower Lakes Competition” played annually between Cleveland, Buffalo, Toledo, and Erie. And later played a few years in their Senior group.

Besides golf he enjoyed fishing for large-mouth bass and catching many lunkers along with Florida channel cats, crappies and bream in lakes around his Florida home. He was a Cleveland Browns fan and season ticket holder since their inception in 1946 and a member of the Browns Legends Club.

He enjoyed spending time with family and friends and later years with his gin rummy buddies at the club. He loved his extended family and the time spent with the grandchildren. He was very generous and shared his good fortune with family and friends. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, a 50 year member of Perry Keystone Lodge #392, F&AM, Scottish Rite Consistory, Valley of Erie and Zem Zem Temple Shrine. He was also a member of the Erie Club, 50 year member of the Kahkwa Club and in Tarpon Springs, Florida, a charter member of the Cypress Run Golf Club and also a charter member of the Innisbrook Resort where he had set the initial course record 68 on their famous Copperhead Course on Ground Hog Day, 1973.

Survivors include his wife, JoAnn Elizabeth Streeter; one son, James R. Streeter, Jr., Anaheim Hill, California; and a daughter, Laura Lee Streeter, Charlotte, North Carolina; two step-daughters, Renee Dietz, Medina, Ohio and Cheryl Perkins, Columbus, Ohio; one sister, Leslie Ann Meier, Houston, Texas and step-grandchildren Cortini Elizabeth Dietz, Trent Austin Perkins and Tatum Perkins.

Friends may call at the Burton Funeral Home and Cremayory Inc. 602 West 10th Street Erie, Pa., 16502 on Tuesday from 2:00 pm till 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm till 8:00 pm and are invited to services there on Wednesday at 10:00 am. Memorials may be made to Shriner’s Hospitals for Children, 1645 West 8th Street, Erie, PA 16505 or the Kahkwa Caddy Scholarship Fund.

Send condolences at www.BurtonFuneralHome.com <http://www.BurtonFuneralHome.com>.