Robert Mauger Jr.: 1932-2014; Exterminator in Findlay had Port Clinton marina

8/17/2014
BY MARK ZABORNEY
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Mauger Jr.
Mauger Jr.

FINDLAY — Robert M. Mauger, Jr., who made work his leisure as owner of a Findlay exterminating business and a Port Clinton marina, died Thursday at Wood County Hospital in Bowling Green. He was 82.

He had pneumonia and, for several years, myasthenia gravis, his son Robert III said.

He was president and main stockholder of Mauger Exterminating Co. and, largely because of his condition, was involved behind the scenes. His son has handled the firm’s day-to-day business. A grandson, Corey Mauger, now works there.

He was owner until a decade ago of Riverside Marina in Port Clinton.

Mr. Mauger had been an aircraft mechanic in the Marine Corps Reserve and in civilian life was hired by North American Aviation in Columbus as a mechanic. He left to find continuing income when workers went on strike, his son said.

“He always was kind of looking for an entrepreneurial endeavor,” his son said. “He worked on a bread truck and a milk truck where he could work extra hours and sell extra stuff and make more money.”

In the mid 1950s, Mr. Mauger moved to Findlay, joining his father, who’‍d left Columbus and the struggling pest-control business he worked for there. Mr. Mauger saw this new line of work in a new town as an opportunity, “something where he could be his own boss, to be paid based on performance,” his son said, “and he was always outgoing and unafraid to take a chance.”

He learned the practice of pest control from his father. He expanded the firm’s reach on his own.

“He was far more aggressive than my grandfather,” his son said. “He would have no problem walking into a place and saying, ‘‍If you want my business, you have to give me your business.’ ”

He bought a sailboat in the 1970s and needed a place to put it.

“He bought a marina,” his son said. “He went out on a big limb there. Everybody was saying, ‘‍What are you doing? The lake is dead!’ ”

But the lake rebounded and, after a week of hard work at pest control, he’‍d “go to the marina and slave his butt off all weekend,” his son said. He regarded boaters and campers at the marina as friends.

He golfed, but “work was leisure to him,” his son said. “He considered all his customers his friends.”

He was a longtime Mason, and his memberships included Capital City Lodge, F&AM, Columbus. and the Findlay Shrine Club. He also was a Royal Arch Mason.

Mr. Mauger was a member of the Hancock County Republican Party Central Committee. He belonged to the Ralph D. Cole American Legion Post and the Elks Club in Findlay and was a member of the Fostoria Power Squadron.

He was born May 22, 1932, in Columbus to Verna and Robert M. Mauger. He was a 1950 graduate of Linden-McKinley High School, Columbus.

He became a sergeant in the Marine Corps Reserve and served stateside and in Puerto Rico and Cuba.

Surviving are his wife, Helen Mauger, whom he married July 14, 1951; son, Robert M. Mauger III; daughters Laura Mauger and Kristen Mauger-Allison; sister, Carol Ann Massara; stepbrother, Richard Hugoniot; five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

Visitation will is 6-8 p.m. Monday in Coldren-Crates Funeral Home, Findlay, where services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday. The family suggests tributes to Bridge Home Health & Hospice.

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