James F. Crane

1937 - 2021

(News story) James F. Crane, a former Northwood City Council president, longtime Columbia Gas employee, and avid hunter, died May 20 at Hospice of Northwest Ohio in Perrysburg. He was 83.

He died of lung cancer, his daughter Tam Eichenberg said. She noted that he was not a smoker and the cancer was discovered recently and in a late stage.

"He's a very loyal, very fair man. He helped a lot of people," Ms. Eichenberg said. "He's a good man. He's missed by many."

Mr. Crane began his career with Columbia Gas in 1959 digging ditches and over the years worked his way up to be the utility company's human resources manager of northwest Ohio. In between, he worked as a pipe-fitter, construction inspector, building superintendent, and a district personnel manager responsible for employee relations programs and policies, all for Columbia Gas.

He was also a union member who helped negotiate collective bargaining agreements with the company until moving up to human resources manager, his wife, Nancy Crane, said.

"He got into Columbia Gas not thinking of a career," she said. But it turned into one.

He worked a lot, but family was No. 1 on his list, Ms. Eichenberg said. She has fond memories of spending summer weekends with him at the family cottage in Michigan.

Mr. Crane served on Northwood's council for at least 12 years during the 1970s and 1980s, and he was council president when Northwood surpassed 5,000 residents in population and changed status from a village to a city.

Mrs. Crane remembers her husband ran for city council both because he had ideas to improve the city but also because he was frustrated by the way some situations were being handled.

In 1983, he told the Weekly Blade he hoped to promote "proper growth within the city," and encourage new industries and businesses to locate there.

His family said city officials told them he was the first city council candidate in Northwood to go door-to-door to talk to constituents while campaigning.

"I was very proud of him, even though I was a teen," Ms. Eichenberg said. "He taught us either go all in or don't do it at all. Be the best you can be, be part of your community, be part of your school system."

Mr. Crane hunted as a hobby for most of his life and filled the freezer with venison. In retirement, he began traveling out west to states such as Wyoming and Colorado to hunt elk. Whether on the trip with friends or a cousin, the group would ride horses up the mountains, pitch tents, and hunt.

"Going up in the mountains on horseback was his big deal. He really enjoyed that," Mrs. Crane said.

Mr. Crane was born Oct. 24, 1937 in Toledo to Edwin and Lola Crane. He married the former Nancy Bourdo on Oct. 18, 1958 at St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Oregon. They lived briefly in Bowling Green and Oregon before building their home in Northwood. The couple enjoyed traveling, especially on windjammer sailing cruises.

Their son Keith Edwin Crane died July 29, 2018.

Surviving are his wife, Nancy Crane; daughters Deb Heilman and Tam Eichenberg; brothers Tom Crane and Dan Crane; seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

A memorial mass is at 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Oregon. The family will greet friends beginning at 10 a.m.

The family suggests tributes to Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Helping Hands of St. Louis, or the St. Ignatius church building fund.