Emil Greco, 75, founder of Greco Manufacturing Co., also was the owner and founder of the Odeum Sports and Expo Center in Villa Park.
A resident of Elmhurst, he died at home Monday.
A native of Italy, Mr. Greco came to Chicago as a boy and attended the Art Institute and the Academy of Fine Arts. His desire to become a cartoonist was sidetracked by military service during World War II. He needed work afterward and designed several pedestals for votive candles. A post-war explosion in church building required new designs for furnishings for chapels. His were modern, and that was what church architects and builders wanted, rather than the more traditional Greco-Roman designs.
He founded Greco Manufacturing in 1948. It designs and makes ecclesiastical furnishings such as statues, votive candle stands and shrines for churches worldwide.
The Odeum, called a “mini-McCormick Place,” is used for indoor soccer and in-line hockey as well as crafts shows and corporate trade shows.
Asked in a Tribune interview how he came to build it in DuPage County, he answered, “I’m trying to figure that out myself.”
Survivors include his wife, Phyllis; three sons, Patrick, Phil and Jon; two daughters, Francine “Sis” Campbell and Renee; and three grandchildren.
Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Thursday in Mary, Queen of Heaven Catholic Church, 426 N. West Ave., Elmhurst.
