EASTON, Pa. — Jack Bennett witnessed the full arc of Downtown Easton.
From its heyday as a shopping destination to the difficult times of the 1970s and ‘80s, Bennett was a fixture.
When he died Jan. 29 at age 98, Downtown Easton had completed a remarkable turnaround, enjoying years of success with a vibrant arts and restaurant scene.
Friends and business leaders say that outcome was in no small part to businessmen such as Bennett who paved the way.
“Jack was really a visionary,” Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said. “He had a vision for the city. He was a true believer and a guy who always gave back.”
An Easton High and Lafayette College graduate, Bennett grew up in the family hardware business and became president of Bennett Hardware in 1965. The Bushkill Street building now houses Trek Bicycle Easton.
Bennett was a founder and president of the old Downtown Improvement Group, or DIG, in the 1970s and a former president of the Two Rivers Area Chamber of Commerce.
He was a 75-year-member of the Rotary Club of Easton and was recognized for his perfect weekly attendance record spanning 60 years.
A founder of the Easton Rotary Holiday Basketball Tournament in 1994, it was renamed the Jack Bennett Easton Rotary Holiday Classic in honor of his contributions. He attended nearly every year.
Sticking together
Former Easton Mayor Phil Mitman said Bennett Hardware was among a core of family-run businesses in Downtown Easton that supported one another, prospered in the first half of the 20th century and worked together to bring in new businesses.
That became a tough job in the 1970s as shoppers discovered malls and abandoned traditional downtown districts.
“Jack Bennett was a stalwart Downtown,” said Mitman, whose family founded Bixler’s Jewelers.
“He had a lot of integrity and that’s not a word used too often today. If something wasn’t right he made it right and did it with a very positive attitude."Phil Mitman, former Easton mayor
“It may have been a struggle in the retail business at that time, but when you wanted something — information, advice, professional opinions and judgments — you went to Jack Bennett.
“He had a lot of integrity and that’s not a word used too often today,” said Mitman, who is executive director of Easton Area Industrial Land Development Co.
“If something wasn’t right, he made it right and did it with a very positive attitude.
“He had a lot of gratitude for the people who came before him in business and he was always willing to spend time giving back to the community in so many ways. I never heard anyone speak any negative words about Jack Bennett.”
Bennett Hardware’s 120-year run came to an end in 1988 when Bennett sold the business to Morris Black and Sons Inc. It was founded as a general store on Northampton Street three years after the Civil War.
In an interview with The Morning Call as he prepared to close, Bennett attributed his commitment to community service to his family.
“I guess it’s a hereditary thing,” he told the newspaper in 1988. “My father was active in the community, too. We’ve taken a lot of dollars out of the community over the years. We have to put some back in.”
Commitment to Rotary Club
The Rev. J. Michael Dowd said Bennett became a mentor when he moved to the Easton area as a young minister.
Dowd would go on to become longtime president of the Two Rivers Area Chamber of Commerce and work closely with Bennett there and in the Rotary Club.
“He really changed my thoughts about what it meant to be a small businessman,” said Dowd, a former Northampton County councilman and the senior pastor at First United Church of Christ on North Third Street in Easton.
"He ran a remarkable business. He was a consultant to so many people. He was always professional and careful, and always scrupulously honest.”The Rev. J. Michael Dowd
“You might think that a small businessman in Easton did business only around Easton. He did business across the Lehigh Valley and eastern Pennsylvania.
"He ran a remarkable business. He was a consultant to so many people. He was always professional and careful, and always scrupulously honest.”
According to Dowd, Bennett was instrumental in the Rotary Club raising enough money to donate $100,000 to the Miracle League of Northampton County for its baseball field in Palmer Township.
Bennett took his commitment to Rotary Club seriously. But he wasn’t the only one.
“Funny story,” Dowd said. “This is when Jack was about 30 or 40 years into his streak of never missing a meeting.”
Dowd said Bennett had a hernia operation on a Wednesday. The Rotary Club met on Thursdays. The physician who performed the surgery, Dr. John Updegrove, also was a Rotarian.
“Jack had the operation on Wednesday,” Dowd said. “Dr. Updegrove signed him out of Easton Hospital on Thursday, took him to lunch at the Rotary Club meeting, then drove him back to the hospital to check him in again that afternoon."
The streak remained intact.
“That sounds like a fable," Dowd said with a chuckle. "That’s how Easton worked.”
Services Friday
Bennett’s wife of 61 years, Kathleen, died in 2020. He is survived by sons Robert, Daniel and Douglas, and daughter Anne Bennett-Morse. Also surviving are 13 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
A visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, at Ashton Funeral Home, 1337 Northampton St., Easton.
Dowd said he owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to Bennett for taking him under his wing. But he's not the only one.
“One of the good things about Jack is he knew everybody,” Dowd said. “If you needed to get something done, you went to Jack Bennett.
"If Jack would open the door for you, you had instant credibility when you walked in the door. He was enormously well respected.”
