Joseph Edward Mercure was an executive in the manufacturing industry, but he felt equally at home in the factory and the boardroom.
“He always championed the workforce,” said friend and former colleague Jeffery Mills. “He was a lot more lenient with the workforce than his own managers. But he was very well-liked on all levels of management.”
It was not unusual for him to eat lunch with factory workers or discuss the day’s events over drinks at the end of the shift.
“And that was the secret to his success,” said his son, Joseph III. “No matter who you were, he found a reason to get to know you and to like you and to care about what was going on in your life.”
Mr. Mercure, 62, died of cancer Sunday, June 25, in his Crystal Lake home.
Born in Minnesota, Mr. Mercure was raised in Tucson, Ariz., where he was the state wrestling champion in high school and one of the top football linemen. He received a football scholarship to UCLA.
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and stayed in California to work at Lockheed Martin, then ran an H&R Block office. He later worked at Lorel Electronics in the Bronx, N.Y., and his secretary, Lorraine Carlucci, became his wife in 1973.
The couple moved to Vermont when he joined Vickers Inc. as director of materials management.
He was promoted to director of purchasing and transferred to the aerospace division in Jackson, Miss. In the early 1980s, Mr. Mercure accepted a position at Cooper Energy Services in Ohio and later worked at National Acme, also in Ohio, as director of manufacturing.
“Shortly after that his career took a launch,” his son said.
Mr. Mercure joined the consulting firm of Arthur Young, now part of Ernst & Young.
“His focus was on manufacturing and he was a principal” in the firm, his son said.
In 1990, a client, Union Special Machine Co. of Huntley, a manufacturer of sewing machines, hired him as executive vice president of worldwide operations and president of a division based in Germany.
Mr. Mercure was later hired at A.T. Kearney’s global consulting division, where his primary client was Rolls-Royce in England.
He worked for George S. May International Co. consulting in Chicago before launching the Crystal Lake-based Pangaea Partners consulting firm in 2002. Mr. Mercure was also a former member of the McHenry County Economic Development Corp.
Other survivors include a daughter, Lori-Elizabeth Grace; a sister, Ethel Donohue; and a grandson.
Services have been held.
