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MIDDLETOWN — Mourners are gathering this afternoon at First Baptist Church, 4500 Riverview Ave., to pay last respects to one of the city’s most successful and generous businessmen.
Perry D. Thatcher, who died Thursday, Jan. 28, of pancreatic cancer at the age of 79, will be laid to rest today at Woodside Cemetery. Friends, family and guests will pay tribute to Thatcher’s life during a memorial service beginning at 2 p.m. at First Baptist.
Hundreds turned out for Thatcher’s visitation Sunday at Breitenbach-McCoy-Leffler Funeral Home. A similar turnout is expected for his funeral service.
If a man’s wealth can be judged by the number of friends he has, Thatcher was rich indeed.
Hundreds of friends, family, business associates and others stood in line for an hour to pay their final respects during visitation Sunday at the Breitenbach-McCoy-Leffler Funeral Home on South Sutphin Street.
The public got to see videos showing the private and public sides of Thatcher, including family vacations and footage of him attending charity balls or raising money for the Middletown Symphony Orchestra as a guest conductor.
Longtime friend and business associate Adam Cristo said he lost his “little buddy,” adding that he had never had an argument with Thatcher.
“I’m not surprised with the number of people who came today,” Cristo said. “All of them had a relationship with Perry.”
Judy Bober, Thatcher’s personal assistant, said “he was always thinking about Middletown first. He always cared about how to make Middletown better.”
Butler County Common Pleas Judge Noah Powers, a former Middletown City Councilman and mayor who served with Thatcher on council, said he’ll always remember Thatcher’s quiet way of getting things done.
“And he was never one to grab credit,” Powers said.
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