Adrian W. Fuller

1944 - 2019

(News story) Adrian W. Fuller, a chemical engineer with duties across the region and the globe for the firm now called Master Fluid Solutions of Perrysburg, who as a champion of soccer ran a club to give young people a chance to grow in the sport, died Friday in Continuing Healthcare of Toledo nursing home. He was 74.

He had heart problems, among other health concerns, his daughter, Rebecca Johnson, said. He'd recovered after a stroke 10 years ago and took part in the DaZy Aphasia Centre at the University of Toledo, which offers therapy and support. He played Tevye in its production of Fiddler On The Roof.

Mr. Fuller closed his career with Star Industrial, a firm he and his son David formed to help tool and die shops and machining firms get the equipment and raw material required to operate.

For about 25 years, he had engineering, sales, and support duties at Master. He was hired by the firm's founder, Clyde Sluhan, and had been a sales manager assigned to western Lower Michigan. As a service engineer assigned northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan, he was responsible for a type of fluid used for cooling and lubricating in high-speed metalworking and for coolant recycling systems.

The intricacies "made sense to him, and he had a good way of explaining it to other people," said his daughter, whose career in the industry started at Master and has continued at General Motors. "I have had so many people reach out to me and say what an incredibly smart man he was and [that he] had an incredible wealth of knowledge. He was a mentor and teacher by nature."

He was a lab manager and later sought out new customers for Master in Malaysia and Indonesia.

"He was so charismatic, and he loved different people," his son Richard said. "He wasn't the type to settle down and do the same thing over and over."

He arrived in Toledo in 1982 as an Owens Corning employee. His OC assignments took him to Oman and Saudi Arabia. He worked on the Haj terminal at the airport in Jeddah, where Teflon-coated fiber-glass fabric roofs where installed.

He was born Nov. 2, 1944, in Tremadog Wales, to Betty and Harold Fuller. He received a master's degree in chemical engineering from Letchworth Technical College in England.

Soccer, as the sport is known here, ran in the family. A grandfather played professionally, and an uncle played internationally. He and his family didn't find many opportunities around Toledo for his children to play soccer when they arrived in the 1980s. He helped start the Spirit of Toledo club and, later, the Toledo Rangers, which offered teams across several age groups.

"He was dedicated to pushing soccer," said Bob Beals, a co-founder of the Rangers. "He was dedicated to giving teams as many opportunities to play as many different places as they could."

He was club president and recruited coaches. He and his then-wife, Laura Hanzi, "used a lot of their money to get it going and keep it going," their son Richard said.

Surviving are his sons Robert, James, David, and Richard Fuller, daughter, Rebecca Johnson; brother, William; sisters Helen and Carol, and six grandchildren.

The family will receive guests from 4-8 p.m. Thursday at Newcomer Funeral Home Southwest Chapel, where services will be at 10 a.m. Friday.

The family suggests tributes to UT's DaZy Aphasia Centre.

This is a news story by Mark Zaborney. Contact him at: mzaborney@theblade.comor 419-724-6182.