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JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The Johnstown business community and friends of entrepreneur John Varley remember him as an extraordinarily intelligent and kind man.
For more than 40 years, Mr. Burley has enjoyed international success with Everything Ice, an ice rink design and construction company based at 701 Main Street in Johnstown.
Amy Bradley, president and CEO of the Cambria Regional Chamber of Commerce, said Burley is highly regarded by Johnstown’s business community.
“He did amazing things and put Johnstown on the map,” she said. “He set up links all over the world.”
All Ice Rinks have been built for high-profile clients such as the Pittsburgh Penguins and, most recently, the President of the United States. About a month ago, the White House unveiled a holiday rink built by Magic Ice USA, a subsidiary of Everything Ice.
John Kuriak, a certified public accountant, has provided financial management services to Burley and his company for many years.
“He was a rare, kind person who tried to make the company as good as he could and did whatever he could to help others,” he said. “I have never met anyone as smart and self-taught as him. His education was through his experiences and he encouraged everyone to work according to that philosophy: learn from what you do. did.”
There’s no subject Burley didn’t know about, Kuriak said.
Mr. Burley was a skilled photographer and took on projects he found online, such as restoring small steamboats, Mr. Kuriak said. A video of Burley cruising on his boat has been posted on his YouTube page.
“And he was an avid pilot and a safe pilot,” Kuriak said. “No one knows what happened in the last moments.”
Burley tragically passed away on Friday while piloting a private plane.
Kuriak said Burley was someone who could learn anything at any time and applied what he learned to improve not only himself but those around him.
As the COVID-19 pandemic surged in 2020, Burley leveraged his business connections to pivot the company’s production from ice rinks to personal protective equipment. Everything Ice’s Personal Protective Equipment Medical Supply subsidiary brought employees back to work and donated missing medical masks to local agencies.
“No matter the situation, his attitude was always positive,” Kuriak said. “He felt like he could always pull through.”
Burley was a central figure in the Everything Ice organization.
Kuriak said the company has the ability to continue, but it would be a shame to see Burley go.
In addition to his ice rink business, Burley was also a partner and investor in Punky’s, another iconic Johnstown business owned by Scott Miller. Mr. Kriak introduced the entrepreneurs to each other.
Miller’s parents started the business in 1963 as a pizza shop. In recent years, Mr. Burley helped expand Panky’s soft shell mass production.
In a social media post, Miller described his first business meeting with Burley on New Year’s Eve three years ago. Mr. Miller, who had already approached more than a dozen investors without success, didn’t have high hopes.
“One month later, on a Friday afternoon, I told John about a 400-gallon fryer I was going to see in Erie, Pennsylvania,” Miller wrote. “The flyer will be one of the most important parts of Pankey’s automation. John told me to take a photo and email it over the weekend. I received a phone call from John on Monday morning and he said, “Please check your email.” I just bought a 400-gallon fryer. ” I said to John, “Are you sane? ” John just laughed – he had the best laugh. ”
Miller said Burley told her, “You seem like a great person and I want to help you.”
“I said to John, ‘What does this mean? I don’t even have a building to put it in,'” Miller wrote. “‘Are we partners now?’ And John said, ‘I don’t know, but I just want to help you. We’ll figure it out.’ “John didn’t care about money. All he cared about was being a kind person and helping another man. He cared about my reaction more than anything. I hope you had fun and this is the beginning of our friendship and partnership with the Punkys,” Miller wrote.
In a subsequent interview with the Tribune-Democrat, Mr. Miller said he had never met anyone like Mr. Burley.
“What made John unique was his optimism and ability to solve any problem he faced,” Miller said. “The words ‘I can’t do that’ were not in his vocabulary. If he wasn’t being challenged, he was completely bored.”
With Burley’s help, Panky’s transformed a vacant building at 89 Poplar Street in Johnstown into the new Panky’s manufacturing facility. Miller said he and Varley have encountered many setbacks and setbacks due to COVID-19, but their goal remains to build “a unique automated flatbread operation unlike any other in the country.” He said there was no change.
Miller said she was saddened by Burley’s death and found it difficult to go to work Tuesday.
“We clashed a lot, but he was always calm and more patient and understanding than anyone I’ve ever met,” Miller said. “Without him, I wouldn’t have been able to build Punkey’s new facility. He believed in me and Punkey’s facility when no one else did. He was very eccentric and even tipped. It was funny even when he was down. There wasn’t much that surprised him. He was a literal “fearless guy.” As a businessman, he was not easy to deal with at times. We used to call him “The Hurricane Approaching,” but we could never stay mad at him. Problems were always resolved and everyone went home laughing. And at the end, with a smile.
“He had a personality and energy that instantly lit up a room in any given moment.”
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