Meat cutter ran family business

10/12/2006

FREMONT - Gary N. Hasselbach, 67, a third-generation meat cutter and owner of Hasselbach Meats in Sandusky County's Rice Township near here, died of cancer yesterday in Fremont Memorial Hospital.

He owned the retail business since 1978, when he took it over from his father, Norman Hasselbach, who died in 1995. He also volunteered for area FFA and other youth groups.

The company, which employs 20 people and has won numerous awards nationwide, was established in 1931 by Gary Hasselbach's grandfather, Ervin Hasselbach, who died in 1965.

Gary Hasselbach was a member of the Ohio Association of Meat Processors, serving on the board of directors in the 1980s and as president in 1984.

He also was a member of the National Association of Meat Processors and was a member of its board of directors in the late 1980s. In about 1985, he was offered the presidency but declined, citing time constraints.

His wife of 47 years, Darlene, said he was a hard-working, kind, and humble person.

A native of Fremont, Mr. Hasselbach graduated from Fremont Ross High School in 1957.

He later was a meat cutter in the family business and farmed at the family's grain and livestock farm in Rice Township before serving in the Army.

Surviving are his wife, Darlene; sons, Eric, David, and Paul; mother, Alma; sisters, Gail Henderson and Kaye Letzring, and eight grandchildren.

Visitation will be after 2 p.m. Saturday in the Herman-Kinn-Karlovetz Funeral Home & Cremation Services, Fremont. Services will be at 2 p.m. Sunday in Grace Lutheran Church, Fremont, where additional visitation will be from 1 to 2 p.m. Sunday. The family suggests tributes to the boiler fund of Grace Lutheran Church in Fremont or the American Cancer Society in Bowling Green.