Frederick W. "Bill" Heidtman II

1933 - 2018

(News story) Frederick W. Heidtman II, best known as Bill, who as a young man joined his father's new steel company and later led the firm, all the while winning over new customers, died Monday in his Ottawa Hills home. He was 84.

He had cancer, son Tom Heidtman said.

Mr. Heidtman retired in 1983 from Heidtman Steel Products, founded 29 years earlier by his father, Fred Heidtman.

"He was great with people. He was a heck of a salesman," said his son, product manager for Heidtman's Lavoy Road facility in Monroe County's Bedford Township.

Mr. Heidtman, who was company chairman and chief executive, sold the business to John Bates, who in 1963 took a summer job at the firm. Mr. Bates, now board chairman, said he kept the Heidtman name because of the company's reputation for integrity and innovation. Mr. Heidtman in turn "appreciated the fact that it was more than a name. It was how we did business," Mr. Bates said.

Mr. Bates initially bought a stake in the company as it recovered from the Palm Sunday, 1965, tornado that swept through West Toledo and up Point Place.

"The tornado blew Heidtman Steel off the face of the Earth," said Mr. Bates, whose duties expanded and eventually was Heidtman president. Until it recovered, the firm used another company's warehouse and, during off hours, its equipment.

Automakers - including Ford Motor Co. and FCA US LLC, as Chrysler is called - and auto suppliers, including the former Dura Corp., became staples of Heidtman's customer base. The firm expanded in part by offering ways of processing steel unavailable locally. Business skyrocketed, Mr. Bates said.

"It was like we were down in Fort Knox. We were doing these things no one else did," Mr. Bates said.

Mr. Heidtman, who went to Miami University on a golf scholarship, courted customers at Inverness Club.

"He knew everyone who was important in the Toledo area, that's for sure," his son said. "He was quite entertaining. John was a good numbers guy and great at the operations part. Together they made a good team."

And the pair remained close, taking fishing excursions from Lake Erie to the Arctic Circle.

"For me, it's like having another brother. He was my best friend," Mr. Bates said.

Frederick William Heidtman II was born June 6, 1933, to Margery and Frederick W. Heidtman and grew up in West Toledo's Old Orchard neighborhood. He was a graduate of DeVilbiss High School, where he played on the golf team. After Miami University, he attended the University of Toledo.

His marriages to June Stalder and Lynn Dusseau ended in divorce.

He and Gloria Cook Komives married in 1985. She died April 15, 2015. He also was preceded in death by his son, Frederick William Heidtman III.

Surviving are his sons, Thomas and Jeff Heidtman; daughter, Linda Heidtman; stepsons, David and Christopher Cook and Shane Komives; sister, Louanne Emerson, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be at 7 p.m. Friday at the Walker Funeral Home, Sylvania Township, with visitation after 2 p.m.

The family suggests tributes to Shelton Park Church, Temperance, or ProMedica Hospice, Sylvania.

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