Timothy L. Meyer [1951-2014]; Tax office manager served on school board

7/30/2014

LUCKEY, Ohio — Timothy L. Meyer, who oversaw the Ohio taxation department’s Toledo district and was school board president of the Wood County district from which he graduated, died Thursday in his Luckey home. He was 63.

As he dealt with cancer for 12 years, he served on boards of education and, until recently, taught math at Owens Community College and sold home and farm insurance for Woodville Mutual.

“You’‍ll never meet a person who was more positive and fought so strongly,” his daughter Stephanie said.

Mr. Meyer retired in 2003 from the Ohio Department of Taxation, which hired him in 1973 as a newly minted Tiffin University graduate. He had a bachelor of commercial science and business management degree, with a minor in accounting.

From an examiner and supervisor for sales and use tax, he became manager of the Toledo district and its 60 employees. Co-workers recalled to his family how he’d encouraged them to further their education, his daughter said. He received a master of public administration degree in 1990 from the University of Toledo.

“I think there was that reciprocity of genuine care and growth and learning within a department,” his daughter said.

Mr. Meyer closed his career as the department’s quality manager for process improvement statewide. He served on the board of examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, which was named for the late U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

A 1969 graduate of Eastwood High School, he served six years on the Eastwood Local Schools board, including two years as president and two years as Eastwood representative on the Penta Career Center board. He was a trustee of the Ohio School Board Association and northwest region president.

“He was very conscientious and academically inclined,” said Denis Helm, a board member the last 32 years who also is a 1969 Eastwood graduate. “We were born and raised here, and we graduated from here, and we felt we had something to offer back to the schools, and Tim did. He was a very good board member. Kids first.”

Mr. Meyer later was a president and vice president of the Wood County Educational Service Center’‍s governing board.

He was born July 9, 1951 to Irma and Lloyd Meyer and grew up in Luckey. He’d been an elder at Zion Lutheran Church in Luckey, where he served on council and as a past president. He helped plan and develop SonFire by the River in Pemberville as a worship community in an informal setting.

“He saw the importance of working with a good team and building something greater than himself,” his son Steven said.

Surviving are his wife, Kathy, whom he married June 11, 1971; daughters, Stacia Reynolds and Stephanie Speck; son, U.S. Army Maj. Steven Meyer; mother, Irma Meyer; sister, Barbara Enright, and seven grandchildren.

Services will be at 11 a.m. today in Zion Lutheran Church, Luckey, with visitation after 10 a.m. Arrangements are by the Marsh Funeral Home, Luckey.

The family suggests tributes to the Eastwood Educational Foundation, SonFire By the River of Pemberville, or Hospice of Northwest Ohio.

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