John William Perry, 72, the founder and former president of Dri-Rite Corp. packaging company, died Saturday, March 4, at RML Speciality Hospital in Hinsdale from complications relating to pneumonia. Mr. Perry, a Chicago native, attended DePaul University for several semesters. He was a paratrooper in the Army at the end of World War II. After working for the city’s accounting department in the 1950s and early 1960s, Mr. Perry, of Posen, founded Dri-Rite Corp. in Blue Island in 1962. Under his leadership, another company headquarters was established in Allentown,Pa., in 1988. Mr. Perry retired in 1995 and handed over the reins to his son Patrick. His family said that during his career he invented a type of portable vacuum called the Kari-Vac. “He taught me that an honest man could succeed in business,” Patrick Perry said about his father. Mr. Perry had volunteered at Sertoma, an organization in Alsip that provides education and vocational training to the physically disabled. Other survivors include his wife, Rose; another son, John; a brother, Theodore; two sisters, Frances Skemp and Davida Hand; and five grandchildren. Visitation will be from 2 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in Adduci-Zimny Funeral Home, 14522 S. Western Ave., Posen. A prayer service will be held at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home, with a 9:30 a.m. mass at St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Catholic Church, 14414 McKinley Ave., Posen.
