Tire store owner ran tavern
11/8/2005TEMPERANCE Robert C. Pruden, 55, who owned a tire business near downtown Toledo and the last three years co-owned a tavern here for which he did much of the cooking, died Monday in Mercy Memorial Hospital, Monroe.
The cause has not been determined, his daughter Cheryl Engfer said.
Mr. Pruden was co-owner and operator of the Michigan Tavern at Smith and Jackman roads, where he greeted customers, cooked, and managed the entertainment. He made sure that if [customers] visited his tavern, their tummies were full, his daughter said. Whatever you asked for, he was willing to do.
He arranged karaoke at the tavern several nights a week and booked the bands that appeared. The classic rock group Radio Flyer was a favorite.
He sponsored benefits at the tavern whenever he heard people were in need, whenever he received word they had circumstances beyond their control in life a fire, a car accident, their child was sick with cancer or diabetes, his daughter said. He went out of his way to throw a fabulous benefit in their honor.
An employee has a stepson with diabetes, and each September he d hold a pig roast and solicit prize donations for a raffle to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
It s turned into a huge event, his daughter Kathy Pruden said.
He formerly was co-owner of Tribe s, a tavern in West Toledo.
Most of Mr. Pruden s career was in the tire business. After graduation from the Burnham High School in Sylvania, he was hired by Secor Tire and became manager of tires and retreading.
Secor Tire was sold in 1986, and he began his own business, B&R Tire, at Monroe and 21st streets.
It was a direction he always wanted to take to be self-employed, daughter Cheryl said. He was very proud of it.
Mr. Pruden liked to fish in a lake near Angola, Ind., and he liked to play golf around northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan.
But he most liked an equal exchange, she said. He could dish it out, and he was so willing to take it, Kathy said.
He formerly was married to Nancy Pruden and Denise Pruden.
Surviving are his daughters, Cheryl Engfer and Kathy Pruden; son, Charles; sisters, Pamela Emmrick, Patrizia Nichols, and Paula Sheamer, and five grandchildren.
Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday in the Reeb Funeral Home, Sylvania, where the body will be after 2 p.m. tomorrow.
The family suggests tributes to the Hospice of Northwest Ohio or the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Northwest Ohio Chapter.