O-I executive had interest inart, creativity

11/3/2005

Alan C. Boyd, 79, a longtime lawyer and a former executive of Owens-Illinois Inc., died Saturday in Flower Hospital.

He had been in poor health for several months. The cause of death was not known, but family members were told he had a heart attack or stroke, his daughter Peggy McKisson said.

He was affiliated for a decade, until 1997, with the law firm Fuller & Henry, where his late father-in-law, Fred Fuller, had been a partner.

He retired from O-I in 1987 after 29 years.

Mr. Boyd, formerly of Ottawa Hills and Sylvania, joined the O-I legal department in 1958 and was named an assistant secretary of the firm in 1961. He was promoted to assistant general counsel of the general legal section in 1977. The O-I board of directors elected him the firm s secretary eight years later.

He loved the law. He loved scholarly things, his daughter said. He was very gentlemanly.

Mr. Boyd grew up in Indianapolis and was a graduate of Shortridge High School there. He received a bachelor s of business administration degree from the University of Michigan, from which he received a law degree.

Afterward, he joined his father s law firm in Indianapolis for several years. His parents were friends with the parents of Anne Crete Fuller, of Toledo, and introduced the couple, who married Aug. 30, 1947. Mr. Boyd had expressed an interest in corporate law, and his father-in-law told him of the opening in the O-I legal department.

In retirement, Mr. Boyd s permanent residence was in Pentwater, Mich., where he stayed annually from May to October. But he had a place in Sylvania, where he stayed from October to January, and in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, where he was from January to May.

Once retirement hit, he was on the go all the time, his daughter said.

He long had an interest in the creative and artistic. He became a water colorist in the early 1990s and would depict landscapes the Lake Michigan shore and Hawaii and architecture that impressed him.

He really became quite good, his daughter said.

He loved the theater he paid his 25th annual visit this summer to the Stratford Festival in Ontario and opera. He played bridge regularly with friends.

He was very reserved and a private person, but with his close friends he was very warm and had a great sense of humor, his daughter said. He had a strong work ethic. He loved his family very much. He was very active socially.

Mr. Boyd was secretary of the former Committee of 100 and was a past board member of Goodwill Industries. He was a former director and secretary of the American Cancer Society s Lucas County unit.

He was a member of the honorary legal fraternity, the Order of the Coif; Phi Delta Phi, and Phi Kappa Psi.

Mr. Boyd s wife died Dec. 21, 1997.

Surviving are his daughters, Anne Margaret Peggy McKisson and Amy Boyd; brother, Thomas L. Boyd, and three grandchildren.

There will be no visitation. Memorial services will be at 1 p.m. Sunday in Epworth United Methodist Church, of which he was a longtime member. Arrangements are by the J. Jeffrey Fretti Mortuary.

The family suggests tributes to the American Cancer Society, the church, or a charity of the donor s choice.