Harry E. Maclay

Harry E. “Fritz” Maclay, 92, of 433 S. Kinzer Ave., New Holland died Wednesday, November 23, 2016 at Garden Spot Village. His wife, Charlotte B. (Beam) Maclay, preceded him in death in 2014.

Born in Belleville, he was the son of the late Robert Barr Maclay, Sr. and the late Grace Virginia (Royer) Maclay.

After graduating from high school, Harry served In the U. S. Army during World War II in the Pacific Theater of Operations. After returning from the service, he graduated from Juniata College with honors in English Literature. He also studied advanced advertising and marketing at Harvard University.

Harry retired in 1981 from the former Sperry Univac, now Unisys. He held executive positions in three different Sperry divisions.

At retirement, he was director of worldwide employee communications at Sperry Univac, the computer division of Sperry Corp. in Blue Bell, PA He had also headed public affairs at Sperry Univac.

He joined Sperry in 1974 when it merged with another Sperry division, Sperry Remington Office Systems. At the time of the merger, he was director of worldwide communications at Sperry Remington, in charge of advertising, public affairs, and employee communications.

Prior to service with Sperry Remington, he had held positions in advertising and public relations at the form Sperry New Holland (now CNH). He began there in 1956 as a writer of press releases in the company’s public relations department. That same year, he became editor of the company’s farmer publication, The Grassland News.

During his tenure as editor, the publication won national and international awards for excellence, and grew from two North American editions to five. The monthly full-color publication circulated to more than 625,000 dairy and beef farmers and ranchers throughout North America.

Following his stint as editor, he became advertising development manager, advertising manager, and public relations manager at Sperry New Holland.

Harry also was the Executive Speech Writer for all three of the Sperry divisions he served. He was a former member of the Public Relations Society of America, former public relations chairman of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA), later the National Association of Marketing (NAM), former public relations chairman of the International Council of Industrial Editors (ICIE) and served as a judge of publications for ICIE national awards program.

Before coming to Lancaster County, he was news director at WVAM, Altoona, PA where he also did play-by-play coverage of basketball, baseball and football. He broadcast the 1956 Tangerine Bowl (later the Citrus Bowl) football game from Orlando, FL and the 1956 NIT basketball tournament from New York’s Madison Square Garden.

He was also a former member of the Eastern Lancaster County School Board and School Authority, the New Holland Community Park, and was a publicity volunteer for Heart Haven, Lancaster and the Lancaster-Lebanon Council, Boy Scouts of America. He was a member, lay leader and Sunday school teacher at the New Holland United Methodist Church and was a lay speaker in both the Eastern Pennsylvania and Central Pennsylvania Conferences of the denomination for 25 years.

Following his retirement, he pursued his interest in genealogy and writing. He was a published author of magazine articles and verse. He wrote hundreds of limericks and entertained at family reunions, retirement parties, and other functions. An avid gardener, he wrote a monthly gardening column, “The Veggie Patch,” for his church’s newsletter.

Surviving are three sons: Douglas married to Tonya (Lyons) Maclay, Stroudsburg; Alan married to Phyllis (Supplee) Maclay, Aiken, SC; and David married to Julia (Loewen) Maclay, New Holland; 10 grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren and a brother Donald married to Nancy Maclay, Springfield, PA.

He was precede in death by three brothers, Robert Maclay, Jr., William Maclay, and Marlin Maclay.

A viewing will be held on Wednesday, November 30 at Groff-High Funeral Home, 145 W. Main St., New Holland from 6 – 8 p.m. Graveside services will be conducted on Thursday, December 1 at 1 p.m. at Machpelah Cemetery, 3820 W. Main St., Belleville. If desired, memorials may be sent to Juniata College, Huntingdon, PA or Hospice & Community Care, P. O. Box 4125, Lancaster, PA 17604-4125. Online condolences may be posted at www.groffeckenroth.com.