Business leader. Philanthropist. Pillar of the community.

All those words can be used to describe Dean White, the Northwest Indiana billionaire and longtime head of Whiteco Industries, who died Wednesday, sources said.

"He will be missed in the community," said Bill Wellman, who started working with White in 1976. "He was a believer in giving back to the community."

White was generous, kind and all business, Wellman said.

"Mr. White's passion and commitment to Lake County and Crown Point and the region in general is all around us," Speros Batistatos, president and CEO of the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority, said Wednesday as information began to circulate. "He's left an indelible mark on Northwest Indiana."

Merrillville Councilwoman Chrissy Barron, D-5th, called White a pillar of the region, pointing to both the business ventures he has done in Merrillville and Cedar Lake, as well as the money he has donated throughout the region for ventures like the Crown Point sports complex through the Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation..

"We've suffered a big loss," Barron said. "He's done a lot to energize and definitely fuel the area."

Barron said practically everyone in Northwest Indiana has been touched by his generosity and the contributions he has made to various communities in the region.

"Everyone here has been touched in some way by the products he's done in Merrillville, Crown Point and Cedar Lake," Barron said. "They've all been good projects."

White's father, George White, started the family outdoor sign company in the 1930s in Shelby. At the age of 13, Dean White started working summers at the company. After his father died in 1952, Dean White became the president of White Advertising Co.

Lake County CourtHouseFoundation / Post-Tribune Dean White speaks at a Lake County Court House Foundation fundraiser in 2014. White died Wednesday at age 93. Dean White speaks at a Lake County Court House Foundation fundraiser in 2014. White died Wednesday at age 93. (Lake County CourtHouseFoundation / Post-Tribune)

White developed businesses across the area and outside of Indiana, including billboards, real estate, the Morningside subdivision, the Twin Towers office complex and Celebration Station family entertainment centers. But two of his most notable developments were the Star Plaza Theatre and Radisson Hotel in Merrillville, built in 1969.

White's son, Bruce White, told the Post-Tribune in 1994 that he remembers his mother Barbara regularly trying to talk Dean White out of building the hotel in the 1960s because "if the hotel did not go as planned, there would be no funds to send the children to college."

But that didn't turn out to be the case, as Dean White landed on Forbes 400 for many years. In 2016, Forbes ranked Dean White as No. 260 in the U.S. with a net worth of $2.5 billion.

He made big deals throughout the years, including selling the billboard business to Chancellor Media Corp. for $960 million in 1998 and selling 100 hotels to Robert L. Johnson, the founder of the BET Network, for $1.7 billion in 2006.

Wellman said White had "the touch" when it came to his business ventures.

Driving in Cedar Lake one day, Wellman remembered White said he wanted to open a restaurant. White was advised against the restaurant business as it can be fraught with risk and likely to fail, he said.

"He just said he wanted to have a little fun," Wellman said, and opened Lighthouse Restaurant. "He gave that community a county club restaurant without the dues."

While the Lighthouse Restaurant proved a success, Wellman said if White made a bad business choice, he didn't dwell on it.

"If he made a mistake, he moved right on," Wellman said.

White launched the careers of people throughout the region through his businesses, Batistatos said. Batistotos was one of those people who got their start with White.

"Thousands got their start and opportunity because of the keen business sense of Mr. White," Batistatos said.

Rich Parks, president of the hospitality division of White/Peterman Properties Inc., worked with White for the last 30 years, first through White Lodging. White's leadership and drive were the key reasons Park remained with the company for so long.

Parks, of Valparaiso, said he had "a very direct relationship" with White, and met with him on Saturday mornings for one-on-one meetings. White, he added, was a joy to be around.

"I never met or knew a man who had so much integrity, so much drive, or so much vision. He was one of a kind. He was a very non-assuming person," Parks said.

He described White as a man who's word was his bond, and as someone who always did things with the utmost integrity.

"He's going to be missed by a lot of people but this impact on the country was remarkable," Parks said, adding White "really loved Indiana," which can be seen by his impact on development in Northwest Indiana and downstate in Indianapolis.

Beyond his own ventures, White helped lead the effort to build up the Interstate 65-U.S. 30 corridor, Batistatos said, and that created an opportunity for countless other businesses.

Wellman said after the opening night of the Star Plaza he got calls from several of his friends in the restaurant industry wanting to know what happened.

"They all got hit and didn't know why," Wellman said, and a survey of the audience found 95 percent had gone out to dinner at a restaurant before seeing Four Girls Four opening night. Wellman said the theatre's reach went out for 25 miles.

Lake County CourtHouseFoundation / Post-Tribune Dean White appears at a 2014 fundraiser for the Lake County Court House Foundation. White died Wednesday at age 93. Dean White appears at a 2014 fundraiser for the Lake County Court House Foundation. White died Wednesday at age 93. (Lake County CourtHouseFoundation / Post-Tribune)

"It was an economic boom to Northwest Indiana," Wellman said.

Crown Point City Councilman Andrew Kyres said his family had been operating their Odyssey restaurant on Broadway Avenue in Merrillville -- at the current home of Asparagus restaurant -- for about six months when White's Holiday Star Theater opened.

"It had a huge impact on our business," said Kyres, who added there were few other restaurants in the area at the time.

He said White would come in to the restaurant from time to time with his son, Bruce.

Kyres said White also was a supporter of tourism in the area.

"He helped it grow and thrive. He very much impacted the region," said Kyres, who also is a former member of the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority and vice president and banking center manager of First Financial Bank in Crown Point.

"He had tremendous vision," Kyres added. "Mr. White's contribution to our region potentially hugely impacted thousands of our citizens and businesses. May his memory be everlasting."

Wellman said White's idea to build the Radisson and Star Plaza in Merrillville just seemed to generate more businesses along that corridor.

Merrillville Councilman Shawn Pettit, D-6th, called White's death a very big loss for the town.