Obituary of Dean J. Sallak

Dean J. Sallak age 71, of Hamburg, New York died Sunday, August 28, 2016. He was born April 23, 1945 to Vaclav and Lillian Sallak His family moved to Buffalo area when he was a young child. Mr. Sallak was a graduate of Eden High School and was a UB alum: undergrad in English; he was the first person to complete joint MBA/CPA program. He worked for Small Business Administration before becoming the CFO of Erie County IDA, then NFTA. He worked to finance a large number of public-sector and business-related projects in the 1980s and 1990s, including Pilot Field (now Coca-Cola Field), Marine Midland Arena (now the First Niagara Center), and the current Buffalo-Niagara International Airport terminal. Mr. Sallak supervised over 500 public financing deals for local businesses through the IDA during his time as CFO. Specialized in cash flow, lines of credit, and other essential, detail-oriented work that rarely made it into the public spotlight. His colleagues describe him as highly intelligent and indispensable, working behind the scenes to improve Western New York. He was a dedicated, largely unsung public servant and advocate for the long-term business health of Buffalo and Western New York Mr. Sallak was a lifelong lover of golf, and a student of the game: worked during college at Chili Country Club near Rochester, and was former Junior Champion (1960) and Mens’ Champion (1963, 1966) at Gowanda Country Club. Toward the end of his life, was able to realize his dream of traveling to golf’s birthplace, Scotland, to play at St. Andrews. He was the devoted father of Bill Sallak and Amelia (George) Sanders, Brother of late Reed Sallak. Brother-in-law of Eileen Sallak. Grandfather of Andrew and Elizabeth Sanders. Uncle of Dina Sallak and Amy Winters. Family invites friends to call Tuesday from 7-9PM and Wednesday 2-4pm followed by a 4PM funeral service at the Laing Funeral Home Inc., 2724 W. Church St. Eden. Flowers gratefully declined. Memorials may be made to the American Lung Association. Words of sympathy on www.LaingFuneralHome.com