Forrest D. Cousino

1942 - 2019

(News story) Forrest D. Cousino, who grew up in his father's building company and in 1971 formed a contracting firm to restore homes and businesses ravaged by fire, flood, and catastrophe, died Monday in his Perrysburg Township home. He was 77.

He had cancer, his daughter Chris Miller said. His wife, Carol, died last September. He had lost siblings and, recently, a close friend.

"He was a man of great faith," his daughter said. "He wasn't afraid to die because, he said, 'I know where I'm going.'"

He retired from the Perrysburg company now called Cousino Restoration after his wife became ill. His son Michael became president in 1997, and Mr. Cousino continued to go to the office.

"He was pivotal," his daughter said. "Even though my brother formally took the reins, and my dad felt good about that, my brother would bounce things off of him. My dad really trusted my brother. They worked very well together.

"When you're talking restoration work - a person's house catches on fire, it floods, any disaster - it's stressful, and he just liked to help people. His heart would go out to them. He would make sure they were treated right. He had many customers who became friends of his. He was a beloved man for so many people."

Specialized knowledge of how to work with insurance companies and how to deal with the residue of disaster separates an insurance restoration contractor from other firms, Mr. Cousino told The Blade in 1996.

"A general contractor can fix damage like we can, but what good would it do to move back into a home that still smells?" Mr. Cousino said then.

His father, Ransom Cousino, started a construction company in the Great Depression, and Forrest grew up helping. When he opened his own business decades later, he drew on well-practiced carpentry skills.

"He knew how to swing a hammer, there's no question," his daughter said. "He knew building backwards and forwards.

"As the business grew, at some point he wasn't in the field any longer," she said. "He was always one to go to jobs and check things out. He wanted to make the customer happy. He tried to take care of his employees too. He was personable. He was a natural leader and a natural salesman. He had good business sense."

Mr. Cousino also founded Midwest Church Construction as a ministry to struggling congregations by erecting new houses of worship at cost. The ministry has become a business with son-in-law Ken Miller at the helm, but "the founding principles, his heart for churches, is very much threaded throughout that company," said his daughter. "All of our employees feel it."

He was born May 11, 1942, to Nora and Ransom Cousino and grew up on Ketcham Avenue in North Toledo. He was a graduate of Macomber Vocational High School, where he took up the sheet metal trade.

He received a bachelor's degree in business in 1965 from the University of Toledo, where he also taught judo. He worked for a time in the human resources office of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. facility in Toledo.

He was formerly married to Rose Schweibold Martinez. He and Carol Williams Moritz married May 7, 1994. She died Sept. 9, 2018.

Surviving are his sons Michael and Paul Cousino and Aron Moritz; daughters Christina Miller, Kari Mann, and Kelly Moritz; sisters Phyllis Marinelli, Barbara Streight, and LaDonna Hart; brothers Darrell and Leland Cousino; 13 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will begin at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Calvary Church, Maumee, where he was a longtime member. Arrangements are by Witzler-Shank Funeral Home, Perrysburg.

The family suggests tributes to Pastor's Staff at pastors-rr.com or Calvary Church.

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