State employees mourn blind Lansing man's death

LANSING – A 31-year-old legally blind Lansing resident died Wednesday, but the impact he made at the State of Michigan's Lewis Cass Building won't be forgotten.

Charles Walter Glime managed three employees at Cass' cafeteria and was called "Charles of the Cass" because of his drive to give patrons quality food and service, said Sharon Ellis, the state's Americans with Disabilities Act compliance director.

Ellis said Glime should be an inspiration for over 500,000 disabled working-age people in Michigan, and the 43 percent within that group with college training who want to work.

"Charlie is gone," said Ellis, holding back tears Thursday in the Cass cafeteria. "But if we get to talk about him, tell his story and talk about how good of a person he was, this could give somebody else a chance.

"If an employer says 'OK, find me a Charlie!' Well, we can find a Charlie; it's not going to exactly be a Charlie, but it's going to be a Charlie-esque person."

The Lansing Police Department announced Thursday that Glime died Wednesday afternoon from injuries he suffered when he was struck by a vehicle while walking near Walnut and Ionia streets on Tuesday night.

Police said the incident is under investigation.

Ellis said Glime lived in an apartment near where he was struck. She said he was a driven entrepreneur who likely interacted with "hundreds" of state employees daily.

Glime also took business and culinary classes at Lansing Community College and ran in races sponsored by Playmakers, an Okemos apparel and footwear store.

"The cafeteria was like his little clubhouse," Ellis said. "And we were all members."

Glime started work at the Cass cafeteria about four years ago and benefited from Michigan's Public Act 260 of 1978.

It authorizes the employment of blind people on state properties and is tied to the federal Randolph-Sheppard Act of 1936.

"Charles had ambitions and goals, and he didn't let anybody stop him," said James Hull of the Michigan Bureau of Services for Blind Persons.

Hull, 35, became legally blind about 12 years ago after he contracted an autoimmune disease. He is the bureau's assistant business enterprise program manager.

He trained Glime for the cafeteria job in 2010 and knew right away his friend's drive would make him successful.

The Bureau of Services for Blind Persons finds and maintains employment opportunities for about 600 people a year. There are about 200,000 people in Michigan considered legally blind, said Mike Pemble, the bureau's deputy director.

"We are sensitive to the fact that persons with disabilities have to fight very hard so they aren't discriminated in the world of business and employment," Pemble said.

Hours before being struck Tuesday by the vehicle, Glime had told friend Ken Prudden that he had turned down a job at Detroit's Cadillac Place. Prudden is an analyst for the state Department of Technology, Management and Budget.

"Charlie had a chance to be closer to home, but chose to stay in a building where six hundred people love him to death," Prudden said.