TED PEREZ
WESTFIELD – Theodore F. Perez, successful business owner, a man dedicated to his family, business and community, passed away Wednesday morning.
Perez founded East Mountain Country Club and East Mountain Banquet Hall, building an “everyman” golf course available to people in all walks of life, creating a venue where people across the community, families, friends and politicians, gathered.
Perez began to build the course in 1961, opening the first nine holes in 1963 and the second nine in 1966. The course was always one of the first to open in the early spring and last to close. Weather permitting, it was open for golfers from throughout the region.
Perez also served more than four years on the City Council. He was initially appointed to complete the term of Angela “Angie” Holmes after her death in 1995 and was then elected to the council twice. His campaign signs showed a dripping faucet when he ran for the 1996-97 term, which he won with the highest vote count in the At-large race, and then he won a second time for the 1998-99 term.
Perez was a founding member of the Westfield Kiwanis Club. Perez was a member of that service organization for 49 years, was a past president and was awarded both the Legion of Honor and a Lifetime Achievement. During his tenure the club established the Westfield Little League program in the 1950s, a program that now includes hundreds of boys and girls.
Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Richard K. Sullivan Jr., who was the city’s mayor during Perez’s tenure on the City Council said that Perez “was a real business person and brought that perspective to the (City) Council. He was a voice for the business community, especially small business.”
Sullivan spoke of the Kiwanis Club’s commitment to the building fund of the Greater Westfield Boys and Girls Club, where Perez served on the Board of Directors. The club used to conduct fundraising events to generate revenue for that commitment.
“Teddy used to run a raffle, a $100 per ticket raffle, with all of the proceeds going to the Boys and Girls Club,” Sullivan said. “On the day of the raffle, if there were any unsold tickets, Teddy would buy them. He did that quietly, without fanfare or public recognition, because he was dedicated to the Kiwanis Club and the Boys and Girls Club.”
Ted, and his family, is still supporting the Boys and Girls Club. Ted’s obituary asks that “In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made in Ted’s name to the Westfield Boys and Girls Club, 28 Silver St, Westfield.”
Perez also served as president of the Chamber of Commerce “Sparkplugs’ and was a member of the Westfield Jaycees, and with his wife. Maria, was the 2007 Greater Westfield Chapter of the American Cross Outstanding Spirit Honorees.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said that he has “the utmost admiration for what Ted accomplished in his life. His is the classic American role model of family, service and business. That was Ted. He will be missed.”
Knapik said he remembers being urged to pick up the pace of play by Perez who roamed the course.
“It was great. He’d be out there in his armored golf cart and if you saw it coming, you’d pick up your ball and move on, because you knew that you were playing too slowly,” Knapik said.
City Council President Brian Sullivan served his first term while Perez was on the City Council and remembers a very different political climate because of the character of the council members. The council members had strongly held opinions, but were able to set those aside for the good of the city and its residents.
“Ted was old school and knew how to work with other people to find common ground,” Sullivan said, “He took a gentlemanly approach to find compromise, to get a consensus, and he did it respectively. It was a very diverse group of people who could work together. I miss those times.”
“Ted focused on things he wanted to fix,” Sullivan said. “He was quite, but he was willing to fight hard for those issues.”
“Ted was absolutely a voice for the business community. He was one of the first councilors who worked to get a more business friendly tax shift,” Sullivan said. “He didn’t get all he wanted, but he did move it closer in the direction of business.
The Perez family is currently making Ted’s funeral arrangements through Firtion-Adams Funeral Home at 76 Broad where the calling hours are scheduled for Sunday between 4 and 8 p.m. with a celebration of Ted’s lift on Monday at 11 a.m. at the Christ the King Church, 297 Russell Road.
