Milwaukee native Irv Peckarsky died on Aug. 24 of natural causes. He was 88.
After graduating in 1938 from Washington High School, he earned a bachelor of science degree in business from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1942. He also earned a minor in botany.
He founded the Great Lakes Construction Company and, for many years, oversaw the construction of commercial projects in Milwaukee.
He remained active after retiring, continuing to manage properties that he had built or bought. At age 88, he continued to go to his office daily,” said his daughter Bobbi (Steve Horn) Peckarsky of Cross Plains, Wis.
“He was well known as a shrewd but fair businessperson who never completed a deal without all parties feeling satisfied.”
Along with his wife Jeannette, who died in 2002, he was deeply involved with the Eisenhower Foundation, serving as an honorary director and receiving its 2005 Presidential Award.
He spent every summer since age four at his family’s second home on Lake Finley in northern Wisconsin. According to his daughter Bobbi, “he was instrumental in getting the [now named Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center] to locate Camp Interlaken on Lake Finley.”
“He is best known by campers as the keeper of the Oreos that are generously given out to anyone who swims across the lake on Shabbat,” she said.
In addition to his daughter Bobbi, he is survived by daughter Joanne Peckarsky of Boston; son Jimmy Peckarsky of St. Germaine, Wis.; and two grandchildren.
The family would appreciate memorial contributions to the Eisenhower Center, Inc., 4425 W. Woolworth Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53218, or www.eisenhowercenter.org/geninfo.htm.
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