Sitting in the Victorian-style lounge of the Burcham Hills Retirement Center, Jack Patriarche recalled moving to East Lansing.
The 84-year-old relaxed on a blue-flower-patterned couch as residents passed wishing him a good morning and greeting him with smiles.
One of the three remaining charter members of the Kiwanis Club of East Lansing, Patriarche is considered by many a good friend and a fountain of information regarding the city’s past.
Only 1,800 people lived in East Lansing and all of the streets were gravel or mud when he moved here in 1922.
“My dad came here to be an assistant librarian on campus,” he said. “Not many sidewalks; and most of the buildings were wooden.”
Serving as East Lansing’s city manager from 1948 to 1976, Patriarche has seen his fair share of city council meetings, MSU football games and changes to the city’s downtown.
Patriarche also attended MSU when it was known as Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science. He graduated in 1938 with a degree in civil engineering.
His father had attended State Agricultural College and was a 1902 graduate.
“It was a nice long walk to the military science building in the winter,” he said. “And as an engineer we surveyed campus over and over, it was great fun.”
While he attended MSU, he worked at the library for 20 to 25 cents an hour.
“When we were freshmen you wore a little green hat to designate you as a freshman, they called them their green pots,” he said.
He served as the city manager for the next 28 years and had a park named after him when he retired in 1976.
Jack Thompson, vice president of the East Lansing Historical Society, said the city was much smaller when Patriarche took over as city manager.
“It was a nice place to be, and a nice place to grow up,” he said. “He had a great reputation, East Lansing was run well, I even knew that as a kid.”
East Lansing Councilmember Bill Sharp worked as a police officer during the years Patriarche served as city manager.
“I think he is the salt of the earth, he is probably one of the few people in East Lansing living that has knowledge of the history of East Lansing,” he said.
Son and MSU alumnus Dennis Patriarche remembers attending the university while his father was city manager during the late 1960s and 1970s.
“A student demanded to see him and they showed up without their shoes on,” the Haslett resident said. “My dad met with him and talked to him and directed him where he had to go, I think the kid was surprised he got to see someone.”
As city manager, he worked to maintain good relations between students and the local government, Dennis Patriarche said.
“There doesn’t a day go by in my adult life that somebody doesn’t ask me am I related to Jack and they go on to tell me how great he is or something he did for them,” he said.
