{"id":68284,"date":"2015-09-25T08:15:03","date_gmt":"2015-09-25T13:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=68284"},"modified":"2015-09-26T07:23:56","modified_gmt":"2015-09-26T12:23:56","slug":"george-brake-had-passion-for-recycling-the-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2015\/09\/25\/george-brake-had-passion-for-recycling-the-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Brake cared about recycling, environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/b>independent editor<\/i><\/p>\n

To many people, George Brake wasn\u2019t just the head of the Van Wert Solid Waste Management District, he was<\/i> the Van Wert Solid Waste Management District.<\/p>\n

\"George<\/a>
George Brake, Van Wert Solid Waste Management District manager, sits on a pile of recyclables for a feature story about the county’s recycling efforts in 2011.<\/strong> (VW independent file photo)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brake, who died Wednesday morning in a traffic accident at the age of 58, was the first — and only — manager of the county recycling agency, created in 1995 by then-commissioners Gary Adams, George Ropp and Ava Good.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was all about recycling and cleaning up our country, which made it easy to hire him,\u201d Adams recalls.<\/p>\n

Adams remembers helping Brake set up the Van Wert Recycling Center 20 years ago, noting that he was always impressed with Brake and his work ethic.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a quality man, conscientious and honest,\u201d Adams said, who added that, in addition to setting up the current recycling program, Brake also went out and found grants to pay for the equipment at the recycling center.<\/p>\n

Current County Commissioner Thad Lichtensteiger said he was saddened when he heard the news of Brake\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a punch in the stomach, you know,\u201d Lichtensteiger said. \u201cWe have just lost a tremendous community asset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Adams and Lichtensteiger said they were amazed at the knowledge Brake had of recycling and environmental issues and the enjoyment he got from his job.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere wasn\u2019t a doubt that George had a passion about the environment,\u201d Lichtensteiger said, while also adding that the county SWMD head also knew how to integrate his ideals \u201cwith the realities of a farming community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"George<\/a>
George Brake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lichtensteiger said he had just called Brake this past Friday while he was helping his wife, Deb, the Van Wert Municipal Court clerk, move items into the court\u2019s new building on Main Street to see whether some old fluorescent light fixtures in the building were recyclable.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t mind me calling him and had an answer,\u201d he said. \u201cJust about any time of the day I could send George a text and he could tell me whether something we had was recyclable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adams said it was Brake who was instrumental in starting the county\u2019s recycling program from scratch, traveling around the area to look at other facilities to see what he felt would work here.<\/p>\n

Lichtensteiger said Brake was always trying to improve the recycling process and find sources for more items that he could recycle.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was one of those guys who absolutely loved what he was doing and was always trying to find ways to make recycling easier,\u201d Lichtensteiger noted.<\/p>\n

The current county commissioner added, though, that Brake\u2019s knowledge of every facet of the program would also make it hard to find a replacement — although it\u2019s a process the commissioners will have to begin soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the only guy we\u2019ve known in this position, which does make him hard to replace,\u201d Lichtensteiger said.<\/p>\n

Adams noted that, along with his knowledge of recycling, Brake, who is survived by his wife, Kathy, and five children, was also a man of faith and a good family man.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a good Christian man and he loved people,\u201d the former commissioner added. \u201cOverall, I give him an A-plus for the job he did.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor To many people, George Brake wasn\u2019t just the head of the Van Wert Solid Waste Management District, he was the Van Wert Solid Waste Management District. Brake, who died Wednesday morning in a traffic accident at the age of 58, was the first — and only — manager of the county recycling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-31 21:30:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}