Jim Zachary, who won election to the Winona Lake Town Council two years ago to represent District 1, has died.
His obituary, which appears on page 3A of Thursday’s newspaper, states he died Tuesday morning at Kosciusko Community Hospital. A cause of death was not listed.
Zachary was a resident of Kosciusko County since 1988, according to his obituary. A 2000 Warsaw Community High School graduate, he worked at Zimmer Biomet and was the father of Haley Zachary, Winona Lake.
Zachary, 39, defeated incumbent Thelia Banta in the May 7, 2019, Republican primary to win a seat on the Winona Lake Town Council. He was not challenged in the fall general election.
Council President Rick Swaim said, “I remember when he came on the Council he was very interested to look at how we spent money and what we spent it on. He was a business owner in The Village (at Winona), so he had an interest through that. He was a valued member of the Council. It’s a big loss to the Council.”
Swaim said Zachary’s passing “certainly was a shock.”
Kosciusko Republican Party Central Committee Chairman Mike Ragan said he knew Zachary really well.
“It’s a horrible tragedy. I am saddened, as I’m sure all Republicans are, at his passing. We will be sure to find a replacement (on the Council) of the same caliber,” Ragan said, noting he won’t make any announcement about replacing Zachary on the Council until after the funeral. Services are set for Saturday.
In a January 2019 interview with the Times-Union, Zachary said the day before he filed to run in the Republican primary, eight people called him to make sure he did.
“(I was) mostly encouraged by other elected officials and mentors of mine” to run, he said.
“I have been interested in local government for as long as I can remember, but I’m at a point in my life now where I am able to give back what I have received as a town resident. This will be the first time my name has been on any ballot and it would be a pleasure to serve my favorite town in the county,” he said then in a news release he provided.
The most important thing for him, he said, was to maintain Winona Lake’s financial position as it has no debt. He said he wanted the Council to continue to be smart with taxpayer dollars.
Zachary did throw his name in the hat for the Ward 1 seat in a caucus after Peter Christos resigned from the Council in July 2017. In August 2017, the caucus chose Banta over Zachary and Kearstin Criswell.
Winona Lake Town Manager Craig Allebach said Zachary’s voice “definitely will be missed. I’m shaken by it all. It’s really a sad situation. We’re all praying for the family.”
Before Zachary joined the Council, Allebach said he met Zachary through activities they were involved in like the Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors. Zachary represented Zimmer Biomet on the KEDCO Board.
“He was just a great guy,” Allebach said. “In my opinion, Jim was kind of a rising star.”
In Winona Lake, over the last few years, Allebach said they tried to get more people involved in the community from more generations. He said Zachary fit that mold.
Zachary was close to key people in their 30s and 40s in Winona Lake, Allebach said.
“He was very inquisitive and he wanted to learn as much as he could, especially about town government,” Allebach said.
“(Jim) really had a listening ear,” he said. Zachary would talk and listen to the critics of the ice rink, explaining to them what was being done and why. “He listened. He took their phone calls. He helped them to better understand what we wanted to do.”
Nick Hauck, the managing director at The Village at Winona, said he’s known Zachary since third grade at Eisenhower Elementary School.
“He loved the community he was in,” Hauck said. “He was active in the cycling community through Velo and the Fat & Skinny Tire Fest.”
Hauck said Zachary was “very involved” in supporting and raising funds for the Miller Sunset Pavilion. “He was an integral part.” Zachary was involved on boards like KEDCO and the City County Athletic Complex. “His love for the community ran deep and that was evident by his involvement.”
He said with Zachary gone, there “definitely will be a void in Winona Lake, not just on the Council but in the community as a whole. He had love for the community and the county. That doesn’t even go over the impact he had at Zimmer Biomet and his friendships.”
As for Zachary’s service on the Council, Hauck said, “He had a deep love for his constituents. He would do research with them. He would go out of his way to represent them.”
