Four men eulogized Todd Monday morning, and they were some of the men who guided Todd’s spiritual life as he helped build Butler County’s business community and current political identity.
The Rev. Glenn Davidson may have first been his pastor, but he was his friend for more than four decades, he told the several hundred people Monday morning at Liberty Heights Church in Liberty Twp.
“Carlos and I had a lot of fun together,” Davidson said, recalling how they would “travel all over the country … playing golf and having fun, and every once in a while, we’d stop and eat a little something.”
The Rev. Terry Fields was pastor at Liberty Heights Church when it opened on Princeton Road several years ago, when Butler County was rapidly burgeoning.
“This building,” said Fields, who was Todd’s pastor for nearly a decade, “was largely a result of Carlos Todd, as are many buildings in our area, is a result of his influence, his love for real estate, his knowledge and know-how.”
Fields said Todd wanted to buy the land next to Interstate 75 but stepped aside so the church, when it was known as Pisgah Baptist Church, can build.
“He said, ‘Doc, I don’t know if that’s a good place for a church, but that’s a good piece of property and if you don’t buy it, I am,’” Fields said. “And he stepped aside so that this place could become a reality.”
The Rev. Brad Cunningham, pastor at Liberty Heights Church in Liberty Twp., and Todd’s last pastor, recalled the first time he had lunch with Todd several years ago, and didn’t talk about his political and business successes.
“The first story he tells me, ‘Pastor, let me tell you one of the dumbest things I’ve ever did,’” Cunningham said. “Humility isn’t about thinking less of yourself, it’s simply thinking of yourself less often.”
Cunningham said this was illustrated when Todd took him to West Chester-Liberty Chamber Alliance dinners.
“It was incredibly obvious he was the most important person in the room, but if you didn’t know any better, you thought you were when you were with Carlos,” he said. “As soon as the pleasantries were exchanged, he’d say, ‘Let me introduce you to my pastor.’”
Todd moved to Butler County in 1960 from Crab Orchard, Ky., where he was raised on his parent’s tobacco farm. He accomplished many things, including leading the Republican Party in Butler County to prominence in the early 1990s through the mid-2000s, being one of the founding families of The Community Foundation of West Chester/Liberty and instrumental in founding the West Chester-Liberty Chamber Alliance which will celebrate 40 years next year.
He served as a trustee in Union Twp. — a community that would eventually become West Chester Twp. — alongside soon-to-retire Speaker of the House John Boehner.
At the height of his political career, when Todd was the Butler County Republican Party’s executive chairman, he was credited for leading the party to electing a Republican in every countywide office by 2000.
But above all else, Todd enjoyed to fellowship with his friends, said the Rev. James Love, who was his pastor for five years beginning in 1967.
“We enjoyed that time of fellowship,” said Love. “We would talk about the work of the Lord, church and then we would talk about politics … we could speak of the good and we could speak of the bad, and felt justified in both.”
He is survived by many friends and family, including his wife of 59 years Joyce, daughters Suzanne Rucker and Darlene Todd-Weed, and grandchildren Mindy Hall, Todd Hall, Ashley Rucker, Brittany Rucker and Coleman Rucker.
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