Raymond H. Lear, 87, was brought home to the Lord early in the morning of June 21, 2023. Raymond was born November 5, 1935, to Henry and Uldine Lear in Wooster, Ohio.
Raymond graduated from Wooster High School in 1953. He attended and graduated from Miami University, studying business, economics and serving as a manager of the football team. During college, he met the love of his life, Joanne, and they completed a “Miami Merger” on October 26, 1957, that would last for 57 years.
Ray began his career at Johnson & Johnson as a salesman in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. After stops in Erie and Pittsburgh, Ray & Joanne found their way to her hometown of Greenville, Ohio, in 1960, where Ray took a job at the Treaty Company. In more than four decades in leadership roles, Ray’s drive, engaging personality, and innovative mind helped build the business into an industry leader in plumbing and municipal materials distribution. He had a passion for business, developing people, and the performance a group could attain by working together. Ray saw the best in his fellow man and helped them find it. He served as a mentor for countless members of his team, building relationships that lasted long into his retirement.
While Ray took pride in his work, his greatest devotion in life was to his family. He was a caring husband, an ever-present father, and a doting grandfather. He organized annual family vacations that served as the highlight of the summer months, instilling the importance of togetherness and fun into his grandchildren. His sharp wit and sense of humor were on full display in the family meetings he would call on each trip, celebrating family successes and encouraging the setting of goals for the coming year.
Ray lived for competition and loved his home state football teams, the Ohio State Buckeyes and Cleveland Browns. His relentless positivity could be seen in his annual prediction of a Browns Super Bowl victory, one we hope the team can deliver as he watches intently from above.
Ray and Joanne had a passion for the people and wonderful town they called home, Greenville. When Joanne died unexpectedly in 2014, so did part of Ray, we take comfort in the knowledge they have been reunited in heaven.
Raymond was preceded in death by his sister, Dorothy Greenawald.
Ray is survived by his two sons, Randy (Patty) and Robert (Wendy) Lear; six grandchildren, Taylor (Nicholas), Sam (Sara), Brittany (Daniel), Grace, Morgan, and Thomas (Carly) and two great-grandchildren, Piper & Cameron.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, August 5, 2023, at 2:30 PM at Zechar Bailey Funeral Home, 1499 N. Broadway Street, Greenville, Ohio 45331, with Pastor Todd Reish presiding. Visitation will be held from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM on Saturday.