Former city manager Dale Helsel dies

Dale F. Helsel died June 24 of heart failure and pneumonia. He was 90.

Dale F. Helsel, who was a former Painesville city manager, is remembered as a civic leader.

Helsel died June 24 of heart failure and pneumonia. He was 90.

According to his obituary, he had successful career in public administration.

He graduated from Yale University with a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy and social science in 1950, and obtained a master’s of public administration in 1953 from the University of California at Berkeley.

In 1956, he was named borough manager of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, and served in that capacity until August 1961. He then became the city manager of Painesville and remained in that role from August 1961 until he accepted the position of city manager of Middletown, Ohio, in the fall of 1970. He retired both from Middletown and full-time city management in 1985, but later served as interim city manager in several Ohio cities, including Kent, Oberlin, and Newton Falls.

According to an article published by The News-Herald in 1970, Helsel had many achievements while serving as Painesville city manager, but was known as a quarterback of Painesville Urban Renewal program.

The finance director at that time, William Kelly, said Helsel “believed in it… and was instrumental” in starting urban renewal.

In the early 1990s, Helsel came out of retirement and, for most of that decade, worked as a public infrastructure and management consultant for various organizations.

He also was a World War II veteran with a great number of interests and talents, including music, art, literature, theater, sailing, architecture, and poetry, his obituary states.

Helsel is remembered by family and friends as a kind, patient, thoughtful, intelligent, loving, intellectually curious, optimistic, openminded, progressive and witty man who will be greatly missed.

Helsel