Robb McClary, assistant to the Cape Girardeau County Commission and longtime administrator for several cities, died Tuesday at Southeast Missouri Hospital.
He was 61.
McClary in February filed for the Republican nomination to be Cape Girardeau County auditor. McClary had dealt with issues related to cancer and the illness that took his life flared up surprisingly in the last three weeks, said his wife, Mary McClary.
With McClary's death, educator Pete Frazier is the sole candidate for the office being given up by David Ludwig, who did not seek re-election.
"He thought he had the background for it," Mary McClary said. "He was a city manager for a number of years and worked closely with budgets, and the job of auditor really appealed to him. He felt it was an apolitical job, not partisan, and that people would consider his credentials and he'd be good at it."
Since February 2007, McClary worked for the commission, handling tasks from securing road easements to following legislation to a revision of the personnel manual. McClary stepped down from the post of director of inspections for Cape Girardeau in March 2006.
When he was hired by the commission, Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said McClary was the man who could secure road easements to speed the county's paving program. "He can charm your socks off, and he doesn't get into debates with you," Jones said at the time. "He is not an argumentative type person."
McClary lived up to that promise, Jones said Tuesday.
"A lot of people, most really, are ready and willing to sign easements to get their road paved, but there were always one or two who were very reluctant and he dealt with them in a very positive, friendly way," Jones said.
McClary was an athlete coached by Jones when the latter taught school. McClary would have been all-district and all-state as distance runner if the designations had existed at the time, Jones said.
Mary McClary said her husband reveled in his children and grandchildren, loved taking weekends at Lake Wappapello and playing music with Mid-Life Crisis. She and Robb McClary were married in 2001.
"It was not long enough," she said.
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