Richard P. McCarter, 88, an attorney and president of Yale Polishers & Platers, a South Side metal finishing firm, was a Silver Skates champion in the 1920s and past president of the Amateur Skating Union.
He was a past president of Edelweiss Brewery and a former lobbyist for the Illinois Brewery Association.
A resident for 60 years of the Portage Park neighborhood, he died Thursday at home.
His association with Edelweiss began as a young man when he started with the brewery as a stenographer. He stayed with it during Prohibition when it made non-alcoholic beer and was president when he left the company in the early 1950s. Under him, the brewery became one of the first in the nation to sell beer in cans.
While with Edelweiss, he completed his law degree at DePaul University and subsequently practiced with his brother, the late Charles McCarter, representing several Chicago breweries. He served as secretary of the state brewery association as well as its lobbyist.
Mr. McCarter was founder and, for more than 40 years, president of Yale Polishers & Platers. The firm finishes products ranging from fishing lures to parts for machines to make hamburgers.
His involvement with speed skating included serving as chief judge of the Tribune-sponsored Silver Skates competition through the 1970s. He also was a former official of the United States Olympic Committee.
“He was very fair, very hard-working, and a family man,” said his son James.
Besides his son, survivors include his wife, Anne; two other sons, Richard and Thomas; four daughters, Patricia DiMarzio, Gerry Noie, Suzanne and Peggy Serwa; a sister; 17 grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.
Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Saturday in St. Ferdinand Catholic Church, 5900 W. Barry Ave., Chicago.
