Cary Shevin, the long-time owner and chairman of the board at supplier Dard Products (asi/48500), died on January 16. He was 81.

“Cary was a pioneer in the industry and was one of the first suppliers to start importing,” Dard said in a statement. “He had a great business mind and was most of all a man of integrity. He touched many lives and will continue to live in the hearts of his family, friends and his Dard family. He will truly be missed.”

At Dard, Shevin presided over a frequent Top 40 company and the winner of the 2001 Counselor Supplier Family Business of the Year award. Shevin was a part of the industry from his childhood, when he’d print plastic key tags on the weekends in his family’s garage. Shevin’s father Jack – who founded Dard – eventually moved the family business into the back of a printing shop. Later, as the business grew, Cary Shevin and his wife Harriette transitioned Dard into a larger building in Chicago and then into the company’s current headquarters in Evanston, IL.

Shevin was the husband of Harriette, father of Bonni (Jeff) Sandy and the late Phillipp Shevin, grandfather of Evan, Brandon and Zachary, and brother of Neal Shevin and Pam Levy. Services will be held January 19 at Chicago Jewish Funerals, Skokie Chapel, at 8851 Skokie Boulevard in Skokie, IL. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Ort America, Phillipp Shevin Memorial Fund, 3701 Commercial Drive, Suite 13, Northbrook, IL, 60062 or the Multiple Sclerosis Society, 525 West Monroe, Suite 900, Chicago, IL, 60661.