[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 16341-16342]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         TRIBUTE TO ERV NUTTER

  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I rise this evening to celebrate the life 
of a great man from my home State of Ohio, a true renaissance man. I am 
talking about Erv Nutter, who died on January 6 of this year at the age 
of 85.
  I am honored to have known Erv and am humbled to have the chance this 
evening to say just a few words about what his friendship has meant to 
me and my family, to my community, and to my State.
  Ervin John Nutter was born in Hamilton, OH, on June 26, 1914, to 
parents he described as ``a Kentucky schoolteacher and a Wyoming 
cowboy.'' He was a running guard on the State championship Hamilton 
High School football team and later graduated from there. He attended 
Miami University in Oxford, OH, and then transferred to the University 
of Kentucky where, at the age of 21, he dropped out to take the Ohio 
examination for stationary engineers. Following that test, he became 
the youngest licensed engineer in Ohio, and then took a job at Proctor 
& Gamble in Cincinnati.
  In 1943, Erv returned to the University of Kentucky to earn his 
degree in mechanical engineering. After graduation, he took a job in 
the engineering division of the Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force 
Base, where he was put in charge of aircraft environmental testing.
  Then in 1951, Erv Nutter founded the Elano Corporation, which 
fabricates metal parts for jet engines. He started the business in a 
Greene County, OH, garage. Elano grew and grew, and it grew ultimately 
into a multimillion-dollar business that has influenced aviation 
worldwide, through precision forming and bending of tubular assemblies 
for fuel, and lubrication and hydraulic systems for jet aircraft and 
missiles.
  I met Erv Nutter for the first time in 1973. I was right out of law 
school, on my first job, as an assistant county prosecutor in Greene 
County. I remember Sheriff Russell Bradley and then-county prosecutor 
Nick Carrera, and I were conducting a major drug investigation. It was 
going well. The only problem was, we had run out of money.
  So we went to some people in the community. One of the first people 
we went to was Erv Nutter. To keep that investigation going, we simply 
had to have some financial assistance. So we asked Erv if he would 
help. Without any hesitation, as Erv would always do--he didn't ask 
anything--he just said: Sure. If you boys think it's a good idea, if 
you think we need to do it, I'll do it.
  When it came to his community, Erv was always ready to lend a hand, 
whether with his financial resources or his time and energy. That was 
just Erv Nutter.
  Erv has been a role model for so many people throughout the years. 
Through his kindness and extreme generosity, he has taught invaluable 
lessons, such as the importance of giving

[[Page 16342]]

back to our communities, the importance of building and trusting our 
neighbors, and the economic future of our villages and our cities.
  Through the years, he donated millions of dollars to the University 
of Kentucky and Wright State University. Today, two buildings at the 
Lexington campus bear Erv's name, as does Wright State University's 
indoor athletic complex.
  Erv Nutter was a blunt man. He was an open man. He was a man who 
would tell you what he thought, never afraid in any way to express his 
convictions or his strong beliefs.
  That is one of the things that made Erv Nutter so endearing. It has 
been said that the greatness of a man can be measured by the extent and 
the breadth of his interests and how he acts on those interests to make 
a difference in this world. Surely by that test, Erv Nutter was a great 
man. He was so passionate about his interests, and what interests he 
had: agriculture, technology, wild game conservation, education, 
sports, history, aviation, or working for a better government. Whatever 
Erv was interested in, he cared passionately about and he acted upon. 
And in each area, he made a difference. Sure, he helped financially 
but, more importantly, Erv gave his time and he gave his energy. He was 
a man of great passion.
  In 1981, Erv Nutter was named Greene County Man of the Year. He 
served as business chairman of the American Cancer Society, chairman of 
the Fellow's Committee at the University of Kentucky, member of the 
President's Club at both Ohio State and Wright State University, past 
president and trustee of the Aviation Hall of Fame--one of his great 
passions and his wonderful wife, Zoe Dell's great passions; the work 
with Zoe Dell continues to this day--as former chairman of the Ohio 
Republican Finance Committee, and former chairman of the Beavercreek 
Zoning Commission.
  In 1995, at the age of 80, Erv was inducted into the Ohio Senior 
Citizens Hall of Fame, an honor for outstanding contributions and 
exceptional achievements begun or continued after the age of 60. Erv 
always was there for our community. Erv always was there for our State. 
In all that he did, he made a positive difference. Erv Nutter was a 
remarkable person, a person who affected countless lives for the 
better. His family knows that probably better than anyone else because 
there were so many things Erv Nutter did that he didn't tell anybody 
about. He just was there to be supportive and to make a difference. He 
just quietly helped out whenever his community asked. And many times 
when his community didn't ask, he did it anyway.
  The only thing Erv wanted was to make the world a better place for 
his children, his grandchildren, and for all of us. Erv Nutter took 
great pleasure in sharing his personal success with the whole 
community. I was particularly struck by Erv's humility. I remember that 
he once told the Xenia Daily Gazette he was the luckiest man in the 
world. He was lucky because he had had the opportunity to do so many 
things he had never, ever, in his wildest dreams, thought he would be 
able to do. He told the paper:

       No one can achieve success by himself. I think this is one 
     of the most important things for people to remember today.

  Erv didn't seek credit. Rather, he appreciated his success and 
understood that his community was a great part of that success. We all 
admired Erv Nutter. We all respected him.
  As Chesterton once said:

       Great men take up great space, even when they are gone.

  Erv Nutter will continue to take up great space on this Earth, not 
just in buildings but in lives touched and lives changed. Erv Nutter 
will continue to live on through the great work he has done. He also 
will live through his wonderful family: his wife Zoe Dell, Joe, Bob and 
Mary, Ken and Melinda, Katie and Jonathan.
  We pay tribute to Erv tonight for what he has meant to our community.

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