Russel Keith Creel’s fundraising tool was peanuts, but the money he raised wasn’t.
As executive director of the Oak Brook-based not-for-profit group Kiwanis Peanut Day Inc., Mr. Creel ushered in a national expansion of the annual fundraiser from a couple hundred Midwest-area Kiwanis Clubs to thousands around the country, in Canada and abroad.
“He was a good man and someone very gifted in the art of fundraising,” said Marty Terlep, who now is executive director of Kiwanis Peanut Day Inc., a separate fundraising arm of Kiwanis Clubs.
Proceeds from Peanut Day — a coordinated event each year that began in Chicago in 1951 and features scores of Kiwanians on street corners selling little red and white bags of peanuts — support the individual communities served by the more than 8,000 clubs worldwide.
“Through his work with Kiwanis, Russ got to know governors of states, mayors and all types of government officials,” Terlep said. “He’d sell them on the idea of Peanut Day, and then they’d turn around and sell it to the residents of their communities.”
Mr. Creel, 90, of Plainfield and formerly of Naperville, a World War II veteran whose self-made documentary about his war experiences is in the Library of Congress, died Tuesday, April 20, in Edward Hospital in Naperville from complications related to pulmonary fibrosis and pneumonia.
“Under his leadership, thousands and thousands of more dollars were raised each year for Kiwanis,” said his son David, a Missouri resident and president of a local Kiwanis Club.
After having worked in public relations for more than 10 years in Chicago for such companies as Brunswick Corp., International Telephone & Telegraph, and Bell & Howell, Mr. Creel joined Martin E. Janis Public Relations in the late 1960s. One of his accounts was Kiwanis Peanut Day Inc.
“From the start, the thing that impressed him most about Kiwanis is how it is run,” said his son. “The organization has low overhead costs and the money raised goes right back into the community.”
So in 1975, Mr. Creel left Martin E. Janis to become executive director of Kiwanis Peanut Day Inc. He also became active in Kiwanis, which was founded in 1915 and focuses its charitable work on service-oriented projects and raising funds for pediatric research.
“He came in and took his creative expertise and built the program up with a very limited budget,” his son said. “He attended Kiwanis Club conventions all over the country and abroad, promoting the concept of Peanut Day and how it could benefit individual clubs and communities.”
Born in Birmingham, Ala., Mr. Creel moved with his family to Detroit as a young boy, but later returned to Birmingham to graduate high school. In 1942, Mr. Creel married his wife of 64 years, Catherine, who died in 2007.
In WW II, he joined the Army and served as an officer in the Quartermaster Corps, where his company set up temporary cemeteries throughout Europe to bury fallen troops. With a windup movie camera, he filmed some of his experiences. Ten years ago he made into a documentary, “A Soldier’s Journey.” A copy is in the Library of Congress and the 30-minute film has also been shown to commemorate Memorial Day activities on Naperville Community TV, family members said.
“He put in a lot of time narrating the film himself,” said another son, Larry.
Mr. Creel and his wife moved to the Chicago-area in 1959 and settled in Naperville. Three years ago, shortly after his wife’s death, Mr. Creel moved to Plainfield. In 2008, he married Anne Hubertina Werno.
Other survivors include a son, Clifford; a stepson, John Werno; two stepdaughters, Halinka Willens and Maria Keene; a sister, Virginia Vanbrabant; 10 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Services have been held.
