Friends, associates pay tribute to Ed Idzkowski
Long-time area businessman passes away Feb. 9

By Rhonda Westfall

He loved learning and stretching his mind with new ideas, and was passionate about fishing and gardening - but most of all Ed Idzkowski enjoyed interacting with people each and every day in the various endeavors he helped create and sustain during his 50-plus years as a Clinton County businessman.

Area residents paused last week to pay tribute to their friend and business associate who passed away Feb. 9. He was 79.

The sight of Ed striding down Spring Street near the buildings of the FC Mason Company was an everyday occurrence - he loved the business that he purchased in 1971 and where he served as president, mostly because of the people who worked there.

"Most any day - even Saturdays and Sundays - Ed was sure to be in his office and moving between the buildings, talking to folks and seeing how things were going," FC Mason corporate secretary and senior vice president Ken Moore said of his friend and partner's love for the company that includes Maco Tool & Engineering and part of AGCO of St. Johns.

"He was a sharp businessman - he knew how to make things run."

That business savvy was evident beginning with Ed's arrival in St. Johns in 1952 when he and his new bride, Jane (Anderson), arrived in town where he was employed as an engineer at a relatively new manufacturing company - Federal-Mogul. Ed went on to become chief engineer and was named as plant manager in 1965.

His tenure with Federal-Mogul spanned an era of growth for that company which at times provided problems as well as possibilities for its employees. Barry Bauer, who worked as a tool and die maker for 37 years before his retirement in 2001, recalls one such incident.

"To me what made Ed special to the Federal-Mogul plant goes back to the early 1970s," Bauer said. "Corporate headquarters decided to consolidate their bearing operations in a new plant to be built in Blacksburg, Virg. Ed fought

that move because he didn’t want to lose the business or the jobs in ‘his’ plant.

"He eventually parted company with Federal-Mogul, but many of us remember

him for fighting to keep ‘our’ jobs here."

Bob Claycomb, who served as plant manager in St. Johns and is now Federal-Mogul vice president of operations - global engine bearings, remembers another side of man who used to greet him with a smile and a hearty, 'How ya doing young fella?'

"Ed loved to chat about bass fishing and how he enjoyed fishing in a canoe," Claycomb recalled via email correspondence from his present office in Germany. "He knew I collected old fishing lures and he would stop by my office and tell me about his old wood musky lures - he even brought them into my office one day for me to see.

"Ed was a great ambassador for St. Johns - he was always available to talk to prospective new businesses about relocating to the community."