FINDLAY - Julian "J.R." Brondes, 83, whose 22 years in elected office - as a Findlay City Council member and Hancock County treasurer - followed a career with his family-owned dairy, died Sunday in the Heritage, where he had lived since October.

He had been in ill health for five years, his wife, Linda, said.

Mr. Brondes, a Republican, was elected to a fifth four-year term in November, 2000. He announced his retirement in July, 2001, because of his health.

He wrote to Hancock County commissioners that he was leaving office with mixed emotions, and said he was most proud of making the county's delinquent tax rate one of the lowest in the state.

"He loved working - that along with his singing with the Millstream Singers and the golf. Those were his pleasures," his wife said.

He was a council member in 1984 when he was asked to run for county treasurer. "He knew a lot of businessmen, and they felt he would be a good candidate for this," his wife recalled.

And he didn't find it difficult to win over voters. "He was so active in the community, socially, and in organizations," his wife said.

Born in Defiance, Mr. Brondes was about 5 when the family moved to Findlay and founded San-A-Pure Dairy. He did not become involved in the dairy until he received a business degree from Ohio Wesleyan University.

He became president and owner of San-A-Pure after his father died. He was a former president of Ohio Dairy Products. He sold San-A-Pure and retired in 1977.

"He got very bored," his wife said. He agreed to become a councilman in 1979.

Mr. Brondes was a board member of what is now Blanchard Valley Regional Health Center. He was a former president of the Findlay Rotary Club and a former president and treasurer of the Hancock Recreation Center.

He sang in other barbershop groups besides the Millstream Singers. He played the ukulele and sang for friends at parties.

Surviving are his wife, Linda, whom he married in 1961; sons, Bruce Julian and Gary Carl Brondes; daughters, Betsy Kay Griffo and Julie Ann Lane; stepsons, John Brooks and Steven Bradford Bosse; four grandchildren; four step-grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.

There will be no visitation. Memorial services will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow in First Presbyterian Church, Findlay, of which he was a longtime member. Arrangements are by the Kirkpatrick-Behnke Mortuary. The family suggests tributes to a charity of the donor's choice.

First Published January 18, 2006, 9:56 a.m.