Robert George Zink

1955 - 2023

News story
By Mark Zaborney
Blade Staff Writer

Robert George Zink, a Maumee police veteran who in 12 years as chief focused on community safety as he encouraged command and patrol officers to pursue professional development, died Oct. 6 in his Monclova Township home. He was 68.

He had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, his wife, Karis Zink, said. The neurodegenerative condition also is known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

He remained upbeat after his condition was diagnosed, said Dave Tullis, a longtime friend and colleague, who was Maumee police chief from 2018-21.

"We would go out to breakfast every now and then," said Mr. Tullis, now community asset, security, and safety manager for the Jewish Federation and Foundation of Greater Toledo. Those outings became few as Mr. Zink lost mobility.

Mrs. Zink said: "It's a horrible, cruel disease. He was never sick a day in his life."

He retired as Maumee chief in 2013. The next year he became safety and security manager of St. Luke's Hospital, retiring in 2021.

He'd been on the police force for 24 years when, in 2001, Lieutenant Zink became Chief Zink by unanimous approval of Maumee City Council.

The new chief said he'd be spending time to make sure officers followed the police division's motto: Committed to Excellence.

"It's a bold statement," he told The Blade in 2001. "It challenges us. When you are committed to excellence, you have to constantly work at it."

He lived that motto in the way he wanted his officers and supervisors trained, said Jim MacDonald, his successor as police chief.

He had a kind of idealism.

"He strived in getting his officers in the top-notch training," said Mr. MacDonald, now city council president and the lone candidate for mayor on the Nov. 7 general election ballot. "The higher you went, you need a higher level of leadership training.

"Bob was well known in the law enforcement community in northwest Ohio," he said.

Mr. MacDonald credits Chief Zink with encouraging him to complete the FBI Academy at Quantico, Va.

He was community oriented and forward thinking, Mr. Tullis said, "always trying to improve the department."

He helped organize the police special response unit, pressed into service when officers encounter a barricaded subject or have to serve a felony warrant to a person known to have weapons. He supported community resource officers in the schools and DARE, the youth-focused drug prevention effort.

He oversaw planning for a state-of-the-art police station, Mr. Tullis said, and in that he also looked ahead - to the city's westward growth, the need for an in-house gun range, and the need for interview rooms that allow audio and video recording. The building opened in 2005.

"He allowed us to be more efficient and effective to do our jobs," Mr. Tullis said. "That building is probably the best police building in northwest Ohio."

Mr. Zink, promoted to sergeant in 1987 and lieutenant in 1996, had served in patrol, training, and undercover roles.

An alumnus of the FBI Academy, he also completed other leadership and police training courses, including the Police Executive Leadership College.

He was born Feb. 6, 1955, to Carolyn and James Zink. He was a 1973 graduate of Whitmer High School, where he played basketball. He received an associate degree in law enforcement from the University of Toledo and continued studies at what is now Lourdes University in Sylvania.

He enjoyed golf outings with friends. His ardent support for University of Michigan football prompted good natured pushback from Ohio State-partial comrades.

"First and foremost, he was a family man, with Karis and his children," said Mr. Tullis. He recalled driving past the Zink family home while on evening road patrol duty.

"I knew he was in his dining room, having dinner," Mr. Tullis said.

He made a point of attending - or volunteering for - the school and extracurricular activities of his stepchildren, whom he regarded as his own.

"He's raised them since they were little. They always called him Dad," Mrs. Zink said.

Surviving are his wife, the former Karis Riccitelli, whom he married April 4, 1987; stepson, Chad Blaesing; stepdaughter, Candice Blaesing; mother, Carolyn Zink; sisters Kimberly Ruetz and Vicki Haggard, and three grandchildren.

A memorial service will begin at 6 p.m. Friday at Maison-Dardenne-Walker Funeral Home, Maumee, where family and friends will be received after 4 p.m.

The family suggests tributes to the ALS Association Northern Ohio chapter, 6133 Rockside Rd., Suite 301, Independence, Ohio, 44131, or als.org/northern-ohio.