Information from Kay Wooding 04/01/2019 

Charles W. Minkler
Dec. 26, 1943 - Aug. 17, 1995

SOUTH BEND - Charles W. Minkler, 51, of Marquette Ave., died at 2:30 a.m. Thursday in St. Joseph Medical Center of natural causes.

Mr. Minkler was executive director for MACOG for 11 years. He was born Dec. 26, 1943, in South Bend, and was a lifelong resident of the area. On April 8, 1994, in Michigan, he married I. Jane Zucker. She survives with a daughter, Jory Ann Minkler of Denver, Colo.; and a sister, Joyce Clark of New Port Richey, Fla. He was a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War.

He was a member of the American Planning Association, the River Basin Commission as a founding father, South Bend Chamber Transportation Committee, Plan Committee for Development for the City of Elkhart, and High Speed Rail Association, a charter member of the Great Lakes Basin Commission, a member of the Solid Waste Board, and Technical Advisory Committee for Comprehensive Planning of St. Joseph County, and was instrumental in the development of Stanley Coveleski Regional Stadium.

Memorial services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Hickey Funeral Home, 17131 Cleveland Road. Cremation will take place. There will be no visitation.

Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of St. Joseph County or American Heart Association.
 

Published in the South Bend Tribune on August 18, 1995.

COMMUNITY STUNNED BY DEATH OF MINKLER

SOUTH BEND - News of today's death of Charles W. Minkler, executive director of the Michiana Area Council of Governments and the acknowledged prime mover behind the Stanley Coveleski Regional Stadium, stunned colleagues and co-workers from the County-City Building in South Bend to Mishawaka City Hall.

Mr. Minkler, 51, of Marquette Avenue, died of a massive heart attack at 2:30 a.m. today in St. Joseph's Medical Center.

Mr. Minkler had experienced a mild heart attack in November 1993.

Memorial services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Hickey Funeral Home, 17131 Cleveland Road. Cremation will take place. There will be no visitation.

A saddened South Bend Mayor Joseph Kernan today paid tribute to Mr. Minkler, describing him as a childhood friend and later as a stalwart who kept the interests of South Bend and St. Joseph County above partisanship.

''He was always thinking about creative ways to move the community forward. The Cove was one example,'' Kernan said.

It was Mr. Minkler and his dream of a minor league baseball team in 1984 that got the ball rolling for the stadium. But he first had to convince local government officials that a seemingly wild scheme was, indeed, possible.

''I was on the first committee with him when we began talking with Mayor (Roger) Parent,'' said County Surveyor John McNamara.

At first the idea met with disbelief among those gathered.

But soon, people in the room began to see the possibilities, McNamara said. ''We began saying 'Hey! Why can't we do this?' ''

''He was one of the first people to welcome me into the community,'' said South Bend Silver Hawks President John N. Baxter, who started out as general manager of the then-South Bend White Sox.

''He showed me around town. He really helped me get my foot in the door,'' he said.

It was in February 1986, and stadium construction was nearing completion. ''He helped me find my apartment,'' Baxter said.

Kernan said Mr. Minkler, a South Bend native, was an ombudsman for all of Michiana. ''I was reviewing a letter that Charles had sent down to IDEM contesting the ozone exceedance as recorded at the Cassopolis station on July 14,'' Kernan said.

''He will be missed,'' Kernan said.

Mishawaka Mayor Robert Beutter credited Mr. Minkler for having professionalized the Mishawaka Planning Department under his four-year directorship until 1983 before taking over the reigns at MACOG.

''He really took over our planning department and changed it from a small town department into the professional department that paved the way for the growth and development that Mishawaka is enjoying today,'' Beutter said.

Said Beutter: ''He pulled everybody together. He had a vision for a larger community. We used to jokingly call him 'the Mayor of Michiana.' ''

On Tuesday night, Mr. Minkler appeared in his role as director of the St. Joseph River Basin Commission to challenge the same agency - the Indiana Department of Environmental Management - on IDEM's proposal not to intercept a plume of chemical-laden ground water from the Galen Myers Superfund site in Penn Township.

Mr. Minkler stood up at the microphone and expressed the commission's viewpoint that any contamination of the river is unacceptable.

Afterward in the Penn High School parking lot, he said: ''It's a Band-Aid approach. Their plan (IDEM's) could contaminate a much wider area. Their estimates are based on computer projections and you never know which way a plume will really move.''

Sandra Seanor, MACOG chief transportation planner, said the MACOG staff was stunned at the news. ''Words cannot express how shocked we are,'' she said from her office.

''MACOG will continue,'' said Seanor, ''But it will be very difficult.''

Mr. Minkler was born Dec. 26, 1943, in South Bend, and was a lifelong resident of the area.

Surviving with his wife, I. Jane Zucker, whom he married on April 8, 1994, are a daughter, Jory Ann Minkler of Denver; his mother, Helen Minkler of Florida; and a sister, Joyce Clark of New Port Richey, Fla.

He was a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War.

He was a member of the American Planning Association, the River Basin Commission as a founding father, South Bend Chamber Transportation Committee, Plan Committee for Development for the City of Elkhart, High Speed Rail Association, charter member of the Great Lakes Basin Commission, Solid Waste Board, and Technical Advisory Committee for Comprehensive Planning of St. Joseph County.

Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of St. Joseph County or American Heart Association.

Published in the South Bend Tribune on August, 17, 1995.

01/30/2022 DEC

South Bend Tribune