Fremont attorney was bar association president in 1962-63

10/26/2003

FREMONT - William W. Kridler, a Fremont lawyer for 52 years and former president of the Sandusky County Bar Association, died Wednesday at Memorial Hospital here. He was 85.

He had suffered two heart attacks during treatment for a pulmonary condition, his son, Doug Kridler, said.

Mr. Kridler was the president of the Sandusky County Bar Association in 1962 and 1963.

He graduated from Western Reserve Law School and passed the bar exam in 1948. He was a sole practitioner here until he retired in 2000, his son said.

“He was that quintessential small-town lawyer. You didn't have to work through other people to get to him,” his son said.

Mr. Kridler thought the legal profession was an honored one, and believed in the system's dignity and fairness, Judge James Sherck of the Sandusky County Common Pleas Court said.

“Bill was one of the most principled persons I ever met in my life,” Judge Sherck said.

Mr. Kridler was very dedicated to the betterment of the community.

“I think he had a highly refined sense of community service and felt that it wasn't enough to be good at what you did professionally,” his son said.

He joined the Birchard Public Library board of trustees in 1961 and was its president for 15 years.

He served on the Memorial Hospital Board from 1967 to 1978, and helped found the Sandusky County YMCA in 1952 and the city's first Community Improvement Corp. in 1965.

He helped persuade some businesses to come to Fremont at a time when the economy was not doing well, Judge Sherck said.

Mr. Kridler also worked with Mobile Meals, the reading tutor program at Lutz Elementary School, and the Curriculum Committee for ElderCollege at Terra Community College.

Mr. Kridler was born April 26, 1918, in Fremont to Paul and Charlotte Kridler. He graduated from Ross High School in 1935 and from Wooster College in 1939.

In December, 1941, he enlisted in the Navy.

For two years, he was the chief aerographer's mate aboard the USS Hoggat Bay, an escort aircraft carrier in the Pacific. An aerographer observes the weather and prepares forecasts.

Surviving are his wife of 52 years, Mary; sons, David and Doug, and six grandchildren.

Visitation is at 11 a.m. tomorrow in the Guild Room of St. Paul's Episcopal Church here, followed by a memorial service at 1 p.m.

The family suggests that tributes be to the Birchard Library Association Foundation or to the church.