Engraver did work for NASA, military

10/20/2003

Robert J. Pasch, an engraver who did tool-and-die work for NASA and others, died Saturday at his Toledo home. He was 88.

He had congestive heart failure and had had two strokes, his daughter, Dianne Curtis, said.

He created the steel die for the Oral-B toothbrush trademark and engraved control panels for elevators and early space shuttles, Mrs. Curtis said.

“He was a unique engraver, and people would come to him because he had a special touch,” she said.

Mr. Pasch did his engraving by hand rather than by computer, and had clients all over the country, she said.

After his first stroke, in 2001, he sold his business, Pasch Engraving Company. He was left-handed, and the stroke was on his left side, his daughter said.

He enjoyed engraving and worked hard at it, she said. His shop was across the street from his house.

“He was working right up until his stroke,” she said.

He began with a five-year apprenticeship at Bernard Engraving in 1940. That kept him out of the war because he did engraving for the military, Mrs. Curtis said.

Mr. Pasch was born in Toledo to William and Emma Pasch on Feb. 2, 1915. He graduated from Libbey High School, where he lettered in track and football.

He won many awards in track and remained athletic for most of his life, his daughter said.

He swam at the Whitehouse Quarry and worked out with weights, she said.

On Aug. 3, 1940, he married the former June Thaxton.

They were among the first members of the Toledo Zoological Society. Mr. Pasch was also a member of the University of Toledo Alumni Association, even though he did not attend college. He was a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church and the Calumet Lodge of the Masons. He was the Masons' designated engraver.

Surviving are his wife, June Pasch; daughters, Patti Leimer, Dianne Curtis, Robin Bissonnette, and Kathy Galbreth; 10 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

The body will be at Walker Funeral Home tomorrow from 2 to 9 p.m.

Services are at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. Burial is at Toledo Memorial Park Cemetery.

The family suggests tributes to Hospice of Northwest Ohio or the Toledo Humane Society.