Louis Paul Darah

1937 - 2022

By Jeff Schmucker
Blade Staff Writer

Louis Paul Darah, a long-time co-owner of West Toledo business Superior Uniform Sales that opened in 1983, as well as an avid aviation and boat pilot, muscle car collector, and model train aficionado, died April 19 at the Franciscan Care Center in Toledo. He was 85.

He had complications from dementia, his daughter, Corrine Mann, said.

Born March 17, 1937, Mr. Darah grew up in West Toledo where his father, Paul, owned Superior Overall Laundry Company. But in sixth grade, Mr. Darah's parents sent him to the Kentucky Military Institute where he graduated in 1956, his daughter said, adding that while a group of his Toledo friends likewise went to the school, her father was the only one to stay and graduate.

After graduation, he went on to become a U.S. Army reservist while he attend the University of Toledo, graduating in 1959 with a degree in business, Mrs. Mann said. From there, he continued to work with his father until the 1980s when Paul Darah sold the business. It was then Mr. Darah and his cousin Bill opened Superior Uniform Sales, which Mr. Darah was involved with until he was 80 years old.

The business has provided uniform apparel for more than 35 years for private and public sector organizations, including for Metroparks Toledo as well as Toledo and Perrysburg Township police departments, which in recent years have won best-dressed law enforcement department in the nation awards by the North American Association of Uniform Manufacturers & Distributors trade group based in Omaha.

But when he wasn't involved with the family business, Mrs. Mann said he often stayed busy with his other passions that included flying small airplanes, piloting his jet boat, driving or collecting muscle cars, or amassing model trains that decorated his home office.

Mr. Darah continued to be a fixture at his family's business and take trips on his plane, boat, and cars until about five years ago when his daughter said his dementia forced his family to ground him from flying, which was difficult for all involved.

"Every Saturday for sure we would go with him to fly and we went to Cedar Point, we went to Put-In-Bay, my parents traveled across the country in it, they did everything, so that was probably his biggest love was his airplanes that he had throughout his life," Mrs. Mann. "My dad was chatty, always on the move, he was always going somewhere. He lived life to the fullest and he did everything.

"But he later said to my mom, 'I had a great life,' and he was right," she added.

Her husband Jeff said it wasn't uncommon for his father-in-law to take his grandchildren on flights - in some cases to travel to their sporting events - or out on his boats at any given opportunity.

"If it had four wheels, floats on water, or flied, he loved it," he said. "And if it went fast, he loved it even more."

They said Mr. Darah was also incredibly generous - and often preferred to "fly under the radar - about his philanthropy, which included flying sick children in need of medical care for free to their destinations through the Angel Flights program.

Mr. Darah's longtime friend Bill Murray, who was also a pilot, credits Mr. Darah for saving the Blue Horizon Flying Club starting back in the late 1960s. Mr. Murray, who belonged to the group during the same time as Mr. Darah and at one point served as the group's president, said the two also frequently took trips together for gatherings of pilots throughout the United States. At times, he said it was Mr. Darah's winning personality and guile that allowed them to find lodging and car rentals, which usually involved Mr. Darah convincing the hotel or car-rental agencies that he had made reservations months ago when that was not actually the case.

He said Mr. Darah also served as the group's general manager for more than 50 years and early on helped the nonprofit become financially stable and purchase more aircraft for flight instruction.

"I was president of the club for a long time - and there were many presidents - but really Louis ran the club, basically," he said. "Everybody thought of it as Louis' club even though we had a board and all that. If it was for Louis, it wouldn't have been successful."

Surviving is his wife of 61 years Sherrie, whom he first met when she was 12 years old and married her in 1960; sons Jeffrey and Paul Darah; daughter Corrine Mann; and nine grandchildren.

Visitation with the family will be 10-11 a.m. Thursday with a Memorial Service at 11 a.m., at St. Elias Church, 4940 Harroun Road, Sylvania.