Jerrold "Jerry" Meyer 1934-2012
Man helped public schools budget money
12/4/2012Jerrold "Jerry" Meyer, who was treasurer for nearly three decades for Maumee Schools and held the same position for the Lucas County Education Service Center, died Sunday in St. Luke's Hospital in Maumee. He was 78.
Mr. Meyer went to the hospital on Thursday after suffering a heart attack in his home in Monclova Township, said Linda Meyer, his wife of 38 years.
He joined the school district in 1968 and went on to serve under four superintendants and one interim superintendant.
While working as Maumee School's chief financial officer, Mr. Meyer held the part-time post of treasurer for the Lucas County Educational Service Center from 1978 to 1996.
Tom Baker, retired superintendent of the educational service center and former Maumee school board member, said Mr. Meyer managed both districts' budgets and accounts like they were his own personal finances.
"He was innovative and creative. He was always looking for ways to save school districts monies. When he first started out [with the school districts] he didn't have a lot of help. He had to do everything on his own."
Mr. Baker said Mr. Meyer balanced his career in school finances with his family life.
"He was able to continue being a good family man and carry out his duties in the school system," said Mr. Baker, who worked with him professionally and got to know him as a good friend.
After retiring from Maumee schools in 1996, Mr. Meyer worked as a controller for Tiffin University, and later handled finances for several charter schools in Toledo.
However, he took a job as treasurer for Ravenna Schools in eastern Ohio in 2002, returning to the type of work he enjoyed the most.
"He liked public school finance. He was very good at it. He knew so much about it. That is where he was most comfortable," Mrs. Meyer said.
She also said he liked the ruralness of Ravenna, which is near Kent, Ohio.
"He just adored that position because for him it was like going back to a small town," she said. "He always use to tell me he was just a country boy at heart." He left the school district in July, 2011.
Born May 29, 1934, in Edgerton, Ohio in Williams County, he was in the Edgerton High School class of 1952.
He earned a bachelor's degree in religious education from Fort Wayne Bible College in 1960.
He went on to become pastor of two churches; Zion Christian Lutheran Church near Van Wert, Ohio, and Sugar Ridge Community Church in Wood County.
Also, he taught for two years in the Pioneer and Hilltop school districts, and spent four years in public relations for the Ohio Farm Bureau for Wood, Ottawa, and Lucas counties.
In December, 1973, he meet the former Linda Appleby Matthews after they were introduced to each other through mutual friends. Mrs. Meyer said their friends took them to lunch at the old Top of the Tower restaurant in the former Fiberglas Tower downtown and they went on a date the following Saturday.
She said her future husband showed up at her church the next morning to hear her sing in the choir at Sunday services, and they became inseparable. They were married April 19, 1974.
"There aren't words to describe what a wonderful life he gave me and what a wonderful man he was. He was the kindest, dearest man you would ever want to meet," she said.
Surviving are his wife Linda; mother, Arlyn; sons, Jeremy and Eric Meyer; daughters, Lindsay Clark, Cindy Santana, and Penny Edwards; stepdaughter, Jennie Matthews; eight grandchildren, and one great granddaughter.
A gathering will be held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Maison-Dardenne-Walker Funeral Home, Maumee, where memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday.
The family suggests tributes to the charity of the donor's choice.
- Mark Reiter