Former grain dealer a charity fund-raiser

7/29/2006

George Joseph Forrester, 91, a former Toledo grain dealer, died of apparent congestive heart failure Wednesday in his home in Glen Ellyn, Ill., where he lived for two years.

Mr. Forrester owned and operated Forrester Grain Co., of which he was president, from the 1930s until its closing in the mid 1980s. The business was started by his father, George R. Forrester, in the 1920s.

Over the years, the younger Mr. Forrester served in different capacities for a number of trade organizations locally and nationally.

In Toledo, they included the former Toledo Board of Trade, of which he was a past president, and the Toledo Chamber of Commerce, of which he was a former trustee.

Mr. Forrester also was a past board member of the Ohio Grain Dealers and former trustee of the National Grain Trade Council. He was a member of the National Grain and Feed Dealers Association and a past member of the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

He volunteered for numerous area charity fund-raisers, including those to help establish St. Francis de Sales High School in 1955.

"He was extremely hard working and honest," his daughter Kathleen Ward said.

A native of Swanton, Mr. Forrester was a Central Catholic High School graduate.

In 1940, he married Colleen Dirkman. She died in 1997.

Mr. Forrester was a member of Gesu Church, Toledo.

His other memberships included the Toledo Club and the Inverness Club.

Surviving are his son, Michael; daughters, Patricia Martin and Kathleen Ward, nine grandchildren, and a great-grandson.

Visitation will be after 2 p.m. tomorrow in the Coyle Funeral Home, 1770 South Reynolds Rd. Services will be at 11 a.m. Monday in Gesu Church. The family suggests tributes to St. John's Jesuit High School, Central Catholic High School, or Gesu Church.