Thomas Richard Strauser, 69, who helped turn a two-man trucking operation into a thriving freight and warehousing company, died of liver disease Tuesday, Jan. 29, in his home in Palm Desert, Calif. A former manager of Crooks Terminal Warehouse in Chicago, he founded Chicagoland Quad Cities Express Inc. with a friend, James Vavrik, during a Teamsters strike in 1969. “Mr. Vavrik had a truck, and my dad had a little bit of money and some freight that needed to be moved,” said his daughter, Terri Ann Wintermute. Starting up during the strike was somewhat risky, she said, but “they survived … and now [the company] is fully unionized.” After a divorce, Mr. Strauser remarried and in 1995 moved to California. He flew to Chicago one week a month to work and conducted business by e-mail, phone and fax. When his health began to fail, tests showed he needed a heart transplant, which took place two years ago. Mr. Strauser was walking three days after the operation, feeling better than he had felt in years, despite knowing that the donor heart was infected with hepatitis C. It was a calculated risk, because the disease often can be managed, his daughter said. Mr. Strauser’s health was excellent until the hepatitis flared up last fall. “He always had good spirits,” his daughter said. Other survivors include his wife, Carol; four daughters, Shari Ann Koleff, Debbie Martin, Dawn Holm and Janie Carduff; three sons, Thomas, Dan Kratovil and Ryan Millay; a brother, Larry; a sister, Peggy Oram; and 15 grandchildren. Services have been held.
