Mark A. Conrad

1953 - 2023

News story
By Mark Zaborney
Blade Staff Writer

Mark A. Conrad, a lawyer and corporate executive whose abiding interest in others yielded friendships lasting decades, died March 25 on a Las Vegas-bound flight with his wife. He was 69.

He became unresponsive mid-air, said his wife, Jan Hasemeier. Doctors and nurses who were aboard volunteered to help, but he could not be revived, and the flight was diverted to Grand Junction, Colo.

"He was really looking forward to this trip," Ms. Hasemeier said. "There were so many heroes on that flight - the flight attendants, the doctors, the nurses."

A kidney transplant recipient 18 years ago, he had end-stage renal disease and underwent heart surgery several years ago.

Mr. Conrad was a former vice president of human relations for the industrial company Aeroquip-Vickers, known for its hoses, couplings, and hydraulic products. That firm had been part of Trinova Corp., formed in the late 1980s as a group of former Libbey-Owens-Ford Co. subsidiaries.

"He was an excellent leader of people, and he understood the law," said John Kovanda, a friend since they first met 52 years ago at Oberlin College football practice.

He liked working with people and negotiating, whether a local matter or traveling to Asia to iron out a joint venture, Ms. Hasemeier said.

"He was really good with people," she said. "When he was with you and when he was talking with you, he made you feel you were the important person. If you were a bus boy or owned the business, he had this laser attention. He listened so well and he never forgot a name."

Eaton Corp. acquired Aeroquip-Vickers in the late 1990s. Mr. Conrad departed several years later as Eaton closed Aeroquip-Vickers' offices in Monclova Township.

A 1981 graduate of University of Toledo's law school, he began his career with a major Detroit-area law firm. He was hired as an attorney on the L-O-F corporate legal staff in 1983, and became Aeroquip's general counsel and secretary in 1985, then working in the subsidiary's Jackson, Mich., offices.

He returned to northwest Ohio as a Trinova senior attorney. He became director of human resources for the Aeroquip's automotive group in 1994 and was named vice president in 1996.

He taught business law for a year at Bowling Green State University before he became ill. When it became known he needed a kidney, five people came forward. His UT law classmate, Stuart Cubbon, became the donor.

"He had the perfect kidney," Ms. Hasemeier said.

Born Aug. 20, 1953, to Helen and Floyd Conrad, Mr. Conrad was a graduate of Rossford High School, where he played football and baseball. He received an academic scholarship to Oberlin, where he studied history and got along well with football teammates of diverse backgrounds.

"He was smart and talented," Mr. Kovanda said. "He had a wide variety of friends. They gravitated toward him."

Mr. Conrad taught history for three years at Oberlin High School, where he also coached.

He had a deep knowledge of sports and sports trivia, and played golf on courses around the globe.

"He was the bravest person. He never gave up thinking he would be able to golf again," Ms. Hasemeier said.

Surviving is his wife, Jan Hasemeier, whom he married July 10, 1982.

A memorial celebration of life will be held from 1-5 p.m. May 21 at Stone Oak Country Club in Springfield Township.

The family suggests tributes to the Heisman Club of Oberlin College or via advance.oberlin.edu/donate.