James R Karabec

Born October 17, 1934 in Twinsburg, OH. Left our presence September 9, 2019 in Boca Raton, FL.

Jim Karabec, a third generation Twinsburg resident, was born to George Karabec and Mamie Karabec (née Hach) and raised on the family dairy farm where he lived and worked until his mother, upon the death of her husband George, sold to the Chrysler Corporation in 1955.

Jim started his career operating a backhoe for Jack Hand before he learned his trade of carpentry from his Uncle Emil Hach, and later formed Karabec Brothers Construction with his brother George.

Bert Wolsten hired Jim as superintendent of construction where he oversaw the construction of Twinsburg’s Heritage Hills development. Starting with building homes, Jim was instrumental in the transition of Bert Wolstein’s Developers Diversified into the country’s largest developer and builder of K-Mart shopping centers. Serving as Developers Diversified’s VP of Construction for 25 years, DD built over 150 shopping centers in 15 years.

In 1984, at the age of 50, Jim retired from Developers Diversified and spent the next several years traveling the world with his wife, Mitzi. Because of the love for his community, Jim won the office of Mayor of Twinsburg and was re-elected twice more. During his 12 years as mayor, Twinsburg experienced its largest growth in residential, industrial and commercial sectors where Jim’s prior construction and development experience served the city well. Among many major projects that occurred under Jim’s watch, his most proud achievement was the city’s acquisition of 900 acres of undeveloped land on Liberty Road that is now known as Liberty Park.

After serving as mayor, Jim retired for the second time where he found skill at protecting and preserving undeveloped land by becoming actively involved in the Tinkers Creek Land Conservancy preserving land that later became part of Western Reserve Land Conservancy.

In 2010 Jim and his wife became full-time residents of Boca Raton, FL. Jim is survived by his wife, Mitzi, of 63 years, son John (Brigit), daughter Joanne Karabec-Studer (Philip) and four grandchildren (Meghan Studer, Kevin Studer, Samantha Karabec and Melissa Karabec).

A celebration of life will be held in his hometown of Twinsburg, OH on Friday, October 11th at the Twinsburg Hilton Garden Inn where the family will welcome guests from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. with remarks from the family beginning at 4 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Jim’s name to the American Heart Association.