[msb-alumni] GRAND RAPIDS, MI Peter Secchia, a Grand Rapids businessman, Former Ambassador to Italy Died on October 28, 2020 at 81
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2020 15:38:13 -0500
BlankGRAND RAPIDS, MI Peter Secchia, a Grand Rapids businessman, Former
Ambassador to Italy
Died on October 28, 2020 at 81
GRAND RAPIDS, MI Peter Secchia, a Grand Rapids businessman, philanthropist and
former U.S.
ambassador to Italy, is being remembered as a visionary who left a legacy in
West Michigan.
Secchia died Wednesday morning at the age of 83. Secchia, who was influential
in Republican
politics and served as the former CEO and Chairman of the Board at Universal
Forest
Products, had recently contracted COVID-19, said family spokesperson Amy
LeFebre. She said
Secchia died at his home in East Grand Rapids. He had experienced health issues
for several
months and was receiving nursing care at home, LeFebre said. Throughout his
life, Peter was
firmly committed to his family, his business, his community and his country,
Secchias wife,
Joan, said in a statement. His presence in all will be deeply missed. Tributes
to Secchia, a
graduate of Michigan State University who gave generously to his alma matter
and numerous
organizations throughout West Michigan, began pouring in as news of his death
spread. Peter
was one of a kind: an inspiring visionary, forceful leader, diplomat, confidant
to
Presidents, proud Italian, devoted Republican, passionate Spartan and a man
with an enormous
heart, said former Michigan Gov. John Engler. He believed nothing was
impossible from
building Universal Forest Products or rising from a Marine private to a
decorated U.S.
Ambassador to Italy. Secchia grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, and served in the
U.S. Marine
Corps with NATO and the 2nd Battalion 6th Marines in Beirut. After graduating
from MSU, he
took a job as a salesman at UFP in 1962, where he worked his way up to the
position of
president and CEO and took majority ownership of the company in 1971. Along the
way, he was
active in Republican politics, and was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Italy by
President
George H.W. Bush, a position he served in from 1989 to 1993. His philanthropic
contributions
to Grand Rapids were hard to miss. Peter loved Grand Rapids and West Michigan
and his energy
and foresight led a transformation of the region, Engler said, noting Secchias
contributions
to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum, MSUs College of Human
Medicine, Grand
Valley State University and Millennium Park. Secchia had a long history in
Republican
politics. He served as chairman of the Kent County Republican Committee from
1977 to 1978,
the Congressional District Chairman from 1979 to 1980, and Michigans Republican
National
Committee member from 1980 to 1989. He was also a major donor to candidates. In
a news
release, the Kent GOP called him the ultimate Republican activist. As a
business and
community leader, Republican and Spartan, Peter always inspired those around
him to be their
best, do their best, and expect the best, Kent GOP Chairman Joel Freeman said
in a
statement. From Grand Rapids, to Washington, to Italy and beyond, Ambassador
Secchia left a
legacy of service that will impact generations to come. No matter how far his
business and
political successes took him, he always came back to Kent County, back to his
community,
which will forever be changed for the better. Secchia was a strong supporter of
former
President Gerald R. Ford. He was one of the creators of the Kent County Scatter
Blitzers, a
group of activists from Kent County who traveled to other states to support
Fords reelection
campaign in 1976, according to the Kent GOP. Fords children, in a statement
released
Wednesday, said Secchia met their father in 1964 during one of his
congressional campaigns,
and that it seems hes been part of our family ever since. Dad and Mom treasured
his playful
sense of humor, good counsel, and abiding friendship; also the good-natured
rivalry between
a Spartan and a Wolverine, said Fords children, Jack, Mike, Steve and Susan.
Our family will
miss Peter. We will remember his generous spirit and be inspired by his
determination to
make everything he touched better than he found it. In addition to his
involvement in
politics, Secchia built a reputation as a successful businessman. He joined
Universal Forest
Products, now known as UFP Industries, as a salesman in 1962 after graduating
from MSU, said
Dick Gauthier, vice president for business outreach at UFP. Nine years later,
he was leading
the company, which supplies wood and other products to the retail, construction
and
industrial sectors. He was loved and esteemed by generations of UFP employees,
because they
knew him as the vigor behind our early growth, Gauthier said. He noted that
UFPs sales grew
from about $1 million in 1962 to over $300 million in 1989 when Secchia left to
serve as
ambassador to Italy. Secchia returned to the company in 1993, serving as
chairman of the
board until 2002. Gauthier said Secchia, early in his career, helped lead the
companys
expansion into new markets such as lumber for decks and fences and site-built
homes. He
required a lot of his employees, but no more than he required for himself,
Gauthier said. No
one could outwork him. Secchia focused on his family business, the real estate
development
firm SIBSCO, after he left UFP in 2002. The number of groups and causes Secchia
contributed
to runs the gamut. He was one of the driving forces behind the campaign to
bring Michigan
State Universitys College of Human Medicine to Grand Rapids. Secchia and an
anonymous donor
contributed $20 million to a fundraising campaign for the $90 million building,
which opened
in 2010 and was named in his honor. Secchia also donated $5 million to MSUs
Grand Rapids
Research Center, which is located adjacent to the Secchia Center and opened in
2017. But it
wasnt just high-profile projects that drew Secchias support. He also donated to
groups such
as Boys and Girls Clubs, the Special Olympics and the Kent County Sheriffs
Mounted Unit
Training Center. He set up a college fund for Charlotte Ponce, who was badly
injured when
she was mauled as an infant by a raccoon. Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss on
Wednesday
recalled how in the mid-2000s, during her time on the city commission, she was
involved
raising money to open public swimming pools in Grand Rapids. One of her first
calls for
support was to Secchia, Bliss said, and he was a quick yes. And once Bliss
began her first
term as mayor in 2016, Secchia was one of the inaugural donors for an annual
initiative she
created to plant hundreds of trees throughout the city in one day. He not only
loved the
city and who we are and what we stood for, but he loved the people of this
community, and he
really had a heart for children, said Bliss, who recalled planting trees in
2016 alongside
Secchia and his wife in the citys Belknap Lookout neighborhood. The family is
planning a
small, private funeral service.
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