Dick Cameron had many trademarks besides Coke.
Joyce Ellis remembers how downtrodden LeMoyne Community Center was when she took over in 2008, four years after a devastating fire.
“No one helped. I financed it with my own money. Our gas bill was over $5,000,” she said Sunday morning, reflecting on grim times for a facility that, under non-COVID circumstances, provides myriad programs and services for area youths.
Ellis, executive director of the East Washington center, had attended public school with Jim Cameron, whose father, Dick, had owned Cameron Coca-Cola in the Washington area. Unbeknownst to her, Dick Cameron and his wife, Winnie, were well aware of the center, which was in dire need of renovation.
“Jimmy’s father and mother called and said, ‘Tell us what you need.’ I was embarrassed,” Ellis said. “Five thousand dollars was no drop in the bucket. I said, ‘Mr. and Mrs. Cameron, the gas is off and it’s freezing.’ He asked, ‘How much do you owe,’ and I told him.
“They gave us a check the next day. Mr. Cameron said, “I’ve been watching you over the years and I know you’re going to turn that place into a valuable asset.”
Richard Riley Cameron was a local philanthropist and more: successful businessman, family man, community supporter, avid golfer, multi-sport athlete in high school and college, and sports fan who personally witnessed the two greatest moments in Pittsburgh sports.
Cameron, 93, died Saturday at his East Washington home – less than a month after the passing of his wife, Edwina. The couple met while attending Denison University in Granville, Ohio, and were married for 69 years.
“We believe it was a situation where he couldn’t bear being without her,” said Bill Cameron, one of Dick and Winnie’s five children and a retired Washington & Jefferson College professor. “They really were pillars of the community.”
The Cameron family is most readily recognized for the bottling business it operated for 110 years, one that eventually morphed into Cameron Coca-Cola, the ninth-largest Coke bottler in the United States. Three generations of the family ran it, four generations were employed there.
Dick Cameron’s grandfather, Wilfred, launched Cameron Bottling in 1889 and secured a franchise to sell Coca-Cola in the early 1900s. Wilfred’s son, Wilfred P., succeeded him at the top, before ultimately relinquishing the reins to his three sons: Dick, Don and Wilfred R. (nicknamed Pete).
Those three brothers, according to Bill Cameron, “really expanded the business (in the 1970s), into West Virginia and Ohio.”
That expansion continued into the ’80s, when Cameron Coca-Cola took over the Pittsburgh area, and accelerated in the ’90s with the lofty ranking among Coke bottlers nationwide. “You couldn’t pick up a program from a sporting or cultural event or a county fair without seeing Cameron Coca-Cola,” Bill said.
He acknowledged, however, that “the industry was changing” and the family sold the business in 1999 to Coca-Cola Enterprises. His father “pretty much retired” afterward.
Richard Cameron was born in Washington on May 24, 1927. and graduated from East Washington High School in 1945. He enlisted in the Navy and was at boot camp when Hiroshima was bombed, essentially ending World War II.
Cameron helped with Japan’s reconstruction before being honorably discharged in 1946. He then enrolled at Denison, where he played baseball and basketball. His baseball coach there was not a luminary at the time, but destined to become one elsewhere in the Buckeye State, and in another sport. That was Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes.
Philanthropy and entrepreneurial success were among Dick Cameron’s trademarks. In 1999, he helped to spearhead the renovation and expansion of W&J’s outdoor athletic stadium with a $2.5 million donation from the family. The facility was renamed Cameron Stadium two years later.
Those weren’t his only ties to the college, as he was a W&J trustee for several years and received an honorary doctorate from the college.
His father – Wilfred R. Cameron – likewise, displayed a giving spirit. Cameron Wellness Center, in South Strabane Township, is named after him.
Dick and Winnie Cameron raised four sons and a daughter, all but one of whom reside in the area. They also had 12 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, with a 10th en route.
Sports were an integral element in Dick’s life. He was an accomplished golfer, registering four holes-in-one, and liked the social aspects of the game. Dick was a familiar face at Washington Country Club, where his son, Jim, is president.
Watching sports also was a favorite pastime, and Dick Cameron was present for two magic Pittsburgh moments. He was at Forbes Field when Bill Mazeroski ended the 1960 World Series with a home run into Schenley Park, and 12 years later witnessed Franco Harris’ improbable Immaculate Reception, giving the Steelers the first playoff victory in their history.
Ellis knows the extent of improbable. That, she attested, was the situation at the LeMoyne Center – until Jimmy Cameron’s parents paid that outrageous gas bill.
“They were the first people who believed in my mission,” Ellis said. “Without them, the LeMoyne Center wouldn’t have survived in 2008.”