CHESTER — The patriarch of one of Southern Illinois’ largest and oldest family-owned businesses died Thursday from complications of COVID-19.
Don Welge, the president and chief executive officer of Gilster-Mary Lee, a family-held food manufacturer headquartered in Chester, died at Missouri Baptist Medical Center in St. Louis, his son confirmed. He had been airlifted there several weeks ago from Memorial Hospital in Chester as his condition deteriorated.
Welge was 84.
“He was at work doing what he loved doing up until just a couple of weeks ago when he had to go to the hospital,” said his son, Tom Welge, who is a vice president and general counsel at the company. Family was not able to be at his side because of hospital visitation restrictions intended to slow the spread of COVID-19, but staff kept the family updated regularly, he said.
“His nurses were with him, they told us,” Welge said. “He went peacefully.”
Welge, a well-known businessman and philanthropic civic leader, started his career with the food manufacturing company in 1957.
Welge was a great-nephew of one of the original Gilster family members who formed a flour milling business together in the small town of Steeleville at the end of the 19th century. Over more than half a century, Don Welge helped modernize, diversify and expand the company into the food manufacturing powerhouse that it is today by helping it find its niche in the store-brand business.
When he started his career with the company, it employed about 20 people.
Today, Gilster-Mary Lee employs more than 3,000 people across four states — Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas and Colorado. Its products are shipped across the U.S. and Canada and into international markets. The company makes such products as pastas, soups, pancake mixes, cereals and other pantry staples.
Numerous employees of Gilster-Mary Lee’s administrative office contracted COVID-19 in recent weeks, Tom Welge said. About half of the employees at the company’s executive office in Chester either tested positive for COVID-19, or were quarantined because they had symptoms indicative of the disease, or had been in close contact with someone who had it. Tom Welge said he also contracted COVID-19, but only experienced mild symptoms. “The virus just hit him especially viciously,” he said of his dad. Most employees have recovered but three others remain hospitalized, he said.
Chester Mayor Tom Page said that Don Welge has made numerous contributions to the Chester area as a business owner and citizen. “The opportunity he’s provided for people to go to work has been unbelievable for the city of Chester,” he said. “It’s a tragic loss to our community. It makes it hit home, that’s for sure.”
In his immediate family, Don Welge is survived by two sons, Tom and Rob Welge, and his wife, Mary Alice Welge. In addition to his two sons, Don Welge’s brother, Michael Welge, also works at the family-owned business. Tom Welge said the loss of his father has hit hard at the company, where many people have had careers for decades and know him well.
https://thesouthern.com/news/local/don-welge-president-of-gilster-mary-lee-died-thursday-of-covid-19-complications/article_6a61f5ff-4fdc-5b2b-a80f-973467ebcf88.html
