Sir Bills graphic Greater Johnstown School District masthead  
      Honoree Profile  
Link to Glebe Street Elementary School Link to Jansen Avenue Elementary School Link to Pleasant Avenue Elementary School Link to Warren Street Elementary School Link to Knox Junior High School Link to Johnstown High School

 
     
 [District Home]
 
Harry E. "Bud" Fear, JHS Class of 1944
Photo of Harry E. "Bud" FearHarry E. “Bud” Fear began his career in the hotel business while still in school, where he combined athletics and Glee club with part-time employment as a bellhop at the Johnstown Hotel, the lowest rung on a ladder that would lead to his eventual rise as one of the best known hotelmen in the nation. After serving as an infantryman with the 34th Division in the Italian Campaign, Fear served for twenty years as vice president and general manager for Sheraton Hotels, where he was cited for his many innovative sales and marketing techniques. Those skills enabled Mr. Fear to convince Rise Stevens to bring the Metropolitan Opera Company to Indianapolis to spend the summer offering opera workshops and performing major operas on the campus of Butler University, for which the Governor presented him with Indiana’s highest civilian award, “Sagamore of the Wabash.”

Mr. Fear later joined Executive House Hotels as executive vice president, where he was responsible for over site of hotels in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Chicago and New York, and the development of hotels in Surinam, Puerto Rico, Bon Aire and Curacao, while being instrumental in making Aruba a popular tourist destination. Fear’s unique sense of humor quickly made Executive House a favorite stop for many famous stars of stage and screen as well as sports and political personalities. It was during this time he was named one of the top 100 hotelmen in America. Fear frequently shared his experiences with students at colleges and schools featuring hotel and restaurant management in their curriculum.

Now retired from the hotel business, Mr. Fear volunteers his time to Food for the Poor, a relief organization in South Florida that builds homes and schools for oppressed areas in the Caribbean, and uses his fundraising talents to assist with building churches, homes and schools in El Salvador, a country ravaged by twelve years of civil war, two hurricanes and a major draught. He has also been instrumental in raising funds for the poor in Haiti and Jamaica.


 < back



 
 

 
         
   
This page is maintained by the District Clerk according to Web publishing guidelines used by the Greater Johnstown School District. All rights reserved. This Web site was produced by the Capital Region BOCES Communications Service, Albany, NY © 2004-07.