Koffler to be feted by chamber
BROWNSVILLE – Ray Koffler, who has owned Tru-Copy Printing in Brownsville for the past 38 years, has been selected as this year’s honoree for the annual Greater Brownsville Area Chamber of Commerce dinner-dance river cruise. The chamber selects one person each year for their contributions to the community. Koffler, who lives in Uniontown, has been actively involved in the cleanup of Dunlap Creek for the creation of a linear park, the establishment of a local chapter of the Izaak Walton League in Brownsville and development of a rail and river transportation museum in the town.
“I think I’m the first one that they’ve honored that wasn’t a native Brownsville resident,” Koffler said. “Anything that goes on in the community, I try to be involved with.”
Koffler was raised in Leckrone and started his printing career with Standard Printing, a subsidiary of Uniontown Newspapers, following his graduation from German Township High School in 1955. Koffler worked at Standard Printing until 1965, when he left to pursue other endeavors, eventually starting Tru-Copy Printing with Emanuel “Bud” Franks and Roy F. Dayton in 1966. By 1969, he had bought out the other shares in the company and in 1972 he purchased the building at his current location on Arch Street in Brownsville.
“I’ve been blessed with making a lot of friends along the way,” Koffler said.
Among his early supporters were former Brownsville Telegraph publisher Charles McKinley and the late Jock Yablonski, who was vice president of the United Mine Workers, president of Centerville Clinics and president of Brownsville General Hospital.
“Even to this day, the people in the United Mine Workers still come here,” Koffler said.
Even though Koffler lives in the Uniontown area, his activities have centered around Brownsville.
“I got involved in Brownsville because I felt I had to give something back to the community if I was going to take from the Brownsville area,” Koffler said. “Brownsville’s been good to me. I made a decent living here.”
Koffler is actively working to attract a veterans’ outpatient clinic to Brownsville General Hospital. He served eight years in the Army Reserve starting in 1959.
“I think that would be a savior to our hospital,” Koffler said.
Koffler said Brownsville and Connellsville are being considered for the clinic, and he said he feels that Brownsville offers the better facility.
Koffler was recently named the Pennsylvania Ike of the Year for 2003 by the Izaak Walton League.
Koffler is the current national secretary for the environmental group and he serves on several national committees for the organization.
“This Saturday I’ll be speaking at the state convention in West Virginia. That’s all part of being a national officer,” Koffler said.
He is also on the organizing committee for the Monongahela River, Railroad and Transportation Museum planned for Brownsville.
He has been a Rotarian for the past 18 years and is the current president of the Mental Health Association of Fayette County and a board member for Interfaith Caregivers of Fayette County.
He is also involved with a number of other community organizations.