Businessman and philanthropist Charles W. Peckarsky, recently of Whitefish Bay, died Feb. 26. He was 93.
Born in Milwaukee, he graduated from Washington High School in 1928, and earned undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
According to his daughter, Pamela (Harold) Nonken of Mequon, Peckarsky changed careers by joining longtime friends Robert Agulnick and Alex Shmitt at Central Building Products, a company that became a pioneer in the home improvement business.
Later, Peckarsky, Shmitt and Shmitt’s son Selwyn Shmitt formed Lumaside, a company that manufactured and sold aluminum and steel siding.
Although he retired from Lumaside in 1984, Peckarsky “never really retired,” according to Nonken. “He enjoyed people and thoroughly delighted in meeting with all his ‘associates.’ He had an office and went downtown at 7:30 a.m. every morning until 2001 when he was 90.”
She added that his “devotion to family was legendary from the time he was a little boy. His uncles and aunts were his friends [and] he knew all the family connections and stayed in close contact with his many cousins.”
In the 1950s, he and his wife, Libbie (nee Pass), were among the founders of Congregation Shalom. In later years they were members-in-perpetuity of Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun and members of Temple Menorah. With the support of Cantor Ron Eichaker, then of Emanu-El, they helped to create the Milwaukee Jewish Community Chorale.
He was a lifetime member of the University of Wisconsin Alumni Association, the Wisconsin Bar Association and the AEPi Fraternity. He and Libbie were longtime patrons of the Artists Series at the Pabst, the Milwaukee Ballet, the Milwaukee Symphony and the Florentine Opera.
He was preceded in death by his wife in July 2004 after 64 years of marriage.
Additional survivors include daughter Petra (Steven) Pollack of Boise, Idaho; brothers Newton Peckarsky and Milton (Vivian) Peckarsky, both of Milwaukee; five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Rabbis Isaac Lerer, Gil-Ezer Lerer and Marc Berkson officiated at funeral services at Temple Menorah March 1. Burial was in Mound Zion Cemetery.
Memorial contributions to Temple Menorah would be appreciated by the family.
