McMillan E. 'Mick' Kosier; 1930-2013: Kosier Hardwood Floors owner was an Army veteran

10/13/2013

McMillan E. “Mick” Kosier, the owner of a hardwood flooring business whose reputation for quality work ensured he was in constant demand, died Friday in his South Toledo home.

He was 82.

He suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema, his wife, Helen said.

After his return from Army service in Germany, Mr. Kosier did construction work. In August, 1955, he bought a used truck and new sanding equipment and struck out on his own, forming Kosier Hardwood Floors, said his wife, who kept the books.

Builders of new houses contracted the firm.

Homeowners hired Mr. Kosier to refinish floors, whether for appearance’s sake or because allergies led them to get rid of carpeting. He installed and maintained church aisles and dance floors.

And those builders and homeowners told others, and his calendar quickly filled based on referrals alone.

“I don’t ever remember a time he was looking for work,” his wife said. And he often worked 12-hour days and six-day weeks.

At his retirement in 2007, he was doing work for the grandchildren of customers he’d started with, said Eric Hoffman of Hoffman Builders Inc.

“He was the best in town, no question,” Mr. Hoffman said.

Mr. Kosier was contacted by interior designers in Chicago and Pittsburgh and turned down an expenses-paid offer from a would-be client in California, said James Begell, who worked for Mr. Kosier when off duty as a Toledo firefighter.

“ ‘No, I don’t want to get that big,’ ” Mr. Begell recalled Mr. Kosier saying.

Then there was the time that Mr. Kosier finally made it to the Ottawa Hills home of a woman who’d been trying for months to get an estimate. When he arrived, she was having a card party. Several of her guests noticed Mr. Kosier in the doorway and called out, “Hey, Mick!” They’d been clients, Mr. Begell said.

“She was impressed. That sold her right away,” Mr. Begell said. “He was a very good guy and honest and very personable. We just tried do good work, that’s all. He didn’t slough off on anything. He looked at all the details.”

He was born Oct. 14, 1930, to Eleanor and David Kosier.

The youngest of nine, he was given his maternal grandmother’s family name. He grew up in South Toledo and attended Libbey High School. He later took a photography class at the University of Toledo.

He and his wife, before they married, liked roller-skate dancing. For decades, they took part in round and square dances organized by groups they belonged to. He was easygoing and even tempered.

“If I saw him angry three times in 58 years, I would be stretching it,” his wife said. “He was very social and loved people.”

He and friends met for morning coffee at Schmucker’s Restaurant on Reynolds Road and more recently at Dino’s in Maumee.

He liked to hunt in northwest Ohio and eastern Ontario. He fished Lake Erie and when visiting the family cottage in Cheboygan, Mich.

Surviving are his wife, Helen, whom he married Oct. 15, 1955; sons, Brian and Eric Kosier; daughter, Becky Taylor; brother, LaVern Kosier, and nine grandchildren.

Visitation will be 2-8 p.m. Monday in the Coyle Funeral Home, with a Scripture service at 7 p.m. Monday in the mortuary. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church.

The family suggests tributes to the church or to the St. Luke’s Hospital Foundation in support of the pulmonary rehabilitation program.

Contact Mark Zaborney at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.