Article published Friday, October 30, 2009 RONALD SCHMIDLIN, 1939-2009 Grower known for optimism, openness
SWANTON - Ronald Schmidlin, 70, the third-generation owner of a business that evolved from growing tomatoes to growing bedding plants in greenhouses, died Sunday in his home in Fulton County's Fulton Township.
He had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - Lou Gehrig's disease - the last five years.
"In finding out you have this disease, you could become pretty bitter," his son Mike said. "He was totally the opposite. He's always been upbeat. His attitude was better than a lot of people who are healthy."
Mr. Schmidlin was president of the wholesale greenhouse firm, Schmidlin Produce Inc., which has five acres under cover. The focus since the 1970s has been on raising bedding plants, annuals, and vegetable plants for sale to retail markets, said his son, who has been vice president.
He was known for his openness within the greenhouse business, said Ron Bettinger, of Bettinger Farms and Greenhouses in Lucas County's Spencer Township.
"[He was] probably one of the friendliest guys in the Toledo area as far as the greenhouse business," Mr. Bettinger said. "He was always looking at the positive part of the business, never down. He was always uplifting.
"If he could share information with another grower to help him, he most definitely would do it," Mr. Bettinger said. "His dad and my dad, Leonard, were very close friends. It just carried on to the next generation."
Mr. Schmidlin was born Sept. 14, 1939, the son of Marjorie and Arthur Schmidlin. He grew up where his grandfather, Fred, began the family greenhouse and tomato packing house at Reynolds Road near Heatherdowns Boulevard.
He was a 1958 graduate of Rogers High School, then in the former Adams Township.
He stayed with the family business for the chance to work alongside his father, his son said, adding that it was "the same reason I did.
"By the same token, you're keeping the family business going, from generation to generation," his son Mike said. "That doesn't happen much anymore.
"With Dad's passing, that keeps me more committed to keeping the business going," he said.
Mr. Schmidlin's sons Mike and Steven and son-in-law Tom Samek work there now.
When Mr. Schmidlin started, his father and his uncle John ran the business, growing sweet corn, peppers, cabbage, and other field vegetables for sale to retailers.
During the early 1960s, the Schmidlin brothers were the only growers in Lucas County with a fall harvest in mature green tomatoes, which were packed and shipped to the South because fresh tomatoes weren't available there at that time of year. The tomatoes ripened at their destinations.
As shopping strips and subdivisions closed in, the Schmidlins in 1968 moved to Fulton County. By the late 1970s, after John's death, they left behind tomatoes to concentrate on bedding plants.
During the busy season, Mr. Schmidlin might work 80 hours a week. When he could, he liked to fish Lake Erie. He and his wife liked to take driving getaways, son Mike said.
Surviving are his wife, Marsha, whom he married Sept. 9, 1958; sons, Mike and Steven Schmidlin; daughters, Becky Foor and Karen Samek; father, Arthur Schmidlin; sisters, Polly Cross and Pat Reed, and five grandchildren.
Memorial services will be at 2 p.m. today in the Weigel Funeral Home, Swanton, where the family will receive friends starting at noon.
The family suggests tributes to the Hospice of Northwest Ohio. Permanent Link
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