Former Muncie Mayor James P. Carey, 79, died Monday morning of natural causes, according to representatives at Meeks Mortuary in Muncie.
The two-term mayor served from 1983 to 1991, but also served as Muncie chief of police and Delaware County sheriff before being elected mayor. He later served as an at-large member of the Muncie City Council before retiring when his term expired in 2003.
Bill Shroyer served on City Council while Carey was mayor. He said Carey's goal was to improve every aspect of Muncie, including Ball State University, during his tenure.
"He was very close with [former Ball State president] John Pruis," Shroyer said. "He was very happy to help Ball State with anything they wanted to do."
Mayor Dan Canan said he knew Carey since he was a child and will remember him as a great politician.
"He had the best ability I've ever seen to remember names," Canan said. "If he saw you one time, two or three years from now he'd remember what town you were from and who your family was."
Canan ran against, and lost, to Carey in 1987, but said Carey was a great political foe.
"Jim was very gracious; he never believed in negative campaigning," Canan said. "He was a larger-than-life figure. That's a term you use a lot but in Jim's case it certainly applied to him."
Sheriff George Sheridan also said Carey was a great politician. Carey was sheriff for two terms, starting in 1970.
"I'm sure there will be a lot of people who will have a lot of good memories of him," Sheridan said. "He'll be missed by quite a few folks out there."
Both Sheridan and Canan said they would pray for Carey's family.
In an interview from the Public Affairs Roundtable (on video at Ball State's library) Carey said he wouldn't trade jobs with anybody in the world.
"I absolutely have a love affair with this job," he said.
Carey ran for a third term as mayor in 1991, but lost to Republican David Dominick.
Carey is survived by his wife Marilyn, who is a member of the Muncie Community School Board.
Funeral plans are pending at Meeks Mortuary.
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