Elkhart businessman, philanthropist Art Decio dies

ELKHART, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — Longtime Elkhart businessman, and one of the founders of the Community Foundation of Elkhart County, Arthur Decio, has died at the age of 90. Decio was retired as chairman, president, director and chief executive officer of Skyline Corporation, which was at one time was the nation’s largest mobile home builder.

President of the Elkhart Community Foundation, Pete McCown, released a statement: 

Elkhart lost our patron saint Friday. He helped shape the Community Foundation of Elkhart County and so many other organizations, but more than that he modeled generosity and philanthropy in remarkable ways. Arthur J. Decio was one of a kind and yet we would all do well to be more like him in the ways he helped our community and others.

Decio also served as a University of Notre Dame trustee beginning in 1971 and was elevated to emeritus status in 2001.

“Art was a cherished, wise and generous friend of Notre Dame, and a dear friend to me personally,” University President Rev. John Jenkins, said. “He likewise lent his many talents to innumerable civic, religious, educational and humanitarian causes here in the South Bend-Elkhart region, statewide and nationally. My prayers are with his family and many friends as we mourn his passing while celebrating a life so very well lived.”

Decio also was a past chairman and trustee emeritus of Holy Cross College, a trustee of Hillsdale College and was an advisory board member of Indiana University South Bend. He received presidential appointments to three national commissions and served on the board of more than 45 organizations, including the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. 

The Decio family will celebrate his life in a private Mass, with burial in Cedar Grove Cemetery on the campus of Notre Dame University. Palmer Funeral Homes is handling arrangements.