North Star Port

Michael "Mick" Sertich, 75, of Alborn, died Sept. 24, 2024. Sertich was a longtime Twin Ports grain terminal professional who retired in 2015 as man- ager of the Gavilon Grain facility on Connors Point in Superior, Wisconsin. Born and raised in Duluth, Sertich graduated from Denfeld High School in 1967 and earned an associate degree in accounting from WITC (now Northwood Technical College) in Superior. The Twin Ports grain industry ran deep in the Sertich family. Mick's father, Mark, spent decades employed by Peavey, retiring as an office manager in 1983. The younger Sertich entered the grain business in 1973, taking a job at Globe Elevator in Superior, cleaning and unloading boxcars. Five years later, he was named assistant superintendent. He stayed with the company through a succession of owners, including Peavey Grain, a division of Con-Agra, which sold the old Globe Elevator for demolition in the mid-1990s and consolidated its local operations on Connors Point. Sertich became manager of Peavey-Connors Point in 2000 and continued in that role when the terminal was sold and became part of Gavilon Grain. Sertich was a member of the Duluth-Superior Maritime Club. He joined the Grain Elevator and Processing Society (GEAPS) in 1978 and served as chapter president in 1997-98. In a North Star Port article about his 2015 retirement, he expressed pride in the grain industry and that Peavey and Gavilon were early adopters in workplace health and safety. Sertich is survived by his wife, Carrie, a son, two daughters, six grandchildren, and many other family members and friends. 14 | NORTH STAR PORT | FALL 2024 PORT PASSINGS Theodore "Ted" Smith, 71, former owner and president of Marine Tech in Duluth, died Oct. 6, 2024. Smith was a fixture on the Twin Ports waterfront, known and admired for his years serving the maritime commu- nity and seeing to its many dock and dredging needs. Smith grew up in Iowa and lived part of his adult life in Colorado, where he worked as a snowcat tour driver for a ski resort and started a business as a contractor. He and his wife, Laura, also spent time in Belize, managing a farm outside of Dangriga. Upon their return to the United States, the couple moved to Michigan. Marine construction was a perfect fit for Smith's back- ground as a skilled contractor and his love of boats. He was a respected captain and worked around the Great Lakes doing various marine construction projects for Ryba Marine out of Cheboygan, Michigan, before he was recruited by Marine Tech and moved his family to Duluth. Smith joined Marine Tech in 1998 and purchased it three years later. Under his leadership, the company built a reputation as the premier dredging firm across the western end of Lake Superior. Its contributions to the region's maritime industry included a wide range of projects beyond dredging shipping lanes—everything from steel corrosion remediation work at several docks in the Duluth-Superior Harbor to the mitigation of con- taminated sediments by hydraulic capping and habitat restoration. The company participated in the multi-year cleanup of Stryker Bay, a Superfund site in the St. Louis River and was at the forefront of efforts to find beneficial reuses for dredged material. Smith retired in 2018 and dismantled the company. Following retirement, he continued to make his mark on Duluth and its port. He was president of the Duluth- Superior Maritime Club in 2018 and 2019 and remained an active board member until the time of his passing. He also served on the Lake Superior Marine Museum Association board. He enjoyed many active hobbies, such as ripping turns in the powder on ski slopes and sailing the Great Lakes on his sailboat Primera Vista. Smith is survived by his wife, Laura, three children and a brother.

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