Crosby's Ferrari 'connected with people'

John (Jinx) Ferrari, who was a Crow Wing County commissioner for 26 years, owned several businesses during his lifetime in the Brainerd area, including the Crosby Bar, where mourners gathered after his funeral Tuesday to toast the longtime public servant.

Ferrari, 72, of Crosby, Minn., had been suffering from an infection and died of an as-yet-unknown cause last Thursday in a Minneapolis hospital.

His quiet and genuine respect for voters, friends and colleagues is why he won the County Board seat that he held from 1981 until his death, said his son Rick of Crosby.

"He touched the ordinary person to get them out to vote," Rick Ferrari said. "He connected with people, and they knew that he wanted to do good."

He became a partner in the bar around 1960; his family had begun it in 1946. He also co-owned Dee J's Floral and Range Manufacturing, both in Crosby.

Over more than 50 years, sometimes in partnership with family members, he owned a concrete block company, a boat and snowmobile store, and a trailer-manufacturing company.

"He came from a family where you did your own thing," his son said.

Ferrari also served on the boards of a regional corrections facility, the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board and the Brainerd-Crow Wing County Airport Commission.

When serving the community, he showed great skill as a listener, said Terry Sluss, a former Crow Wing County commissioner.

"He tried his hardest not to prejudge," Sluss said. "He had a lot of integrity."

A dozen years ago, Ferrari took an unpopular stand when he wanted the county to buy land in downtown Brainerd, Sluss said. Eventually, the board came around to Ferrari's way of thinking -- that county business should be centrally located.

"Without Jinx, we would probably have had to relocate the jail, at least, outside of the city," Sluss said.

Ferrari also was instrumental in making hiking and biking trails in the county, and he had a real soft spot for preserving the history of the region.

A member of the Cuyuna Range Heritage Preservation Society, he worked to establish a memorial to the miners killed in the 1924 Milford Mine disaster, the worst in Minnesota's history.

"He didn't want things that happened in the past to be forgotten in the busy-ness of life," his son said.

In addition to his son Rick, he is survived by his wife of 51 years, Joyce of Crosby; daughters Deanna Ferrari of Edina, Ann Guard of Callas, Wash., Darla Fiedler of Brainerd; his mother, Millie of Crosby; brothers Raymond Ferrari of Cuyuna and Robert Ferrari of Crosby; sisters Delores Waffensmith and Glee Lundgren, both of Crosby, and five grandchildren.

Services have been held.

Ben Cohen • bcohen@startribune.com