Stephen K. Levorchick

1929 - 2018

(News story) STONY RIDGE, Ohio - Stephen K. Levorchick, a retired glass inspector at the Libbey-Owens-Ford Co. in Rossford with a long career in law enforcement, including as police chief of Wood County's Troy Township, died Thursday in Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Perrysburg Township. He was 89.

He had congestive heart failure, but also had developed a mass near a kidney, said his son, Steve, who is sheriff of Ottawa County.

Mr. Levorchick worked at L-O-F for more than 30 years, retiring in 1987.

"He liked the people he was working with," his wife, Gerry Levorchick, said.

He closed his law enforcement career early this decade as a member of the Wood County sheriff's auxiliary. He was named in 2017 to the Law Enforcement Officer Hall of Fame because of his service as Troy Township's chief, from the 1960s into the 1980s. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award in that inaugural class of inductees during ceremonies at the Pinnacle in Maumee.

"He was my hero. He has always been my hero," said his son, a law enforcement officer since 1984 and Ottawa County sheriff since 2011.

"I saw how much he was able to help other people," said his son, who as a boy went along as Chief Levorchick patrolled the township. "My dad respected everyone so much, and they respected him in return. He quite often could talk to them, and they felt so bad for disappointing him, that was more punishment than if he had taken them to jail. He probably had the best common sense of anyone I met in my life."

He later became a corrections deputy for the Wood County sheriff's office.

Mr. Levorchick, as a member of the Ohio Highway Patrol auxiliary in the early 1960s, received the Earl Ulmer Meritorious Service Award, named for an auxiliary officer killed in the line of duty. Mr. Levorchick crawled into a car back seat to pull out the occupants as a truck trailer that rolled over was crushing the vehicle, his son said.

He also guided young people as a Boy Scout leader and as a longtime coach of youth baseball and other sports. He taught youth golf at Hidden Hills Golf Course for 35 years, through the most recent season. He and his wife taught line dancing to students with disabilities at Penta Career Center.

He was born July 28, 1929, in Honolulu to Steve and Martha Kauahipaula Levorchick. A year later, after his father's Army service ended, the family moved to his father's hometown of Buffalo. His mother died in 1931. Mistreated afterward at home, young Steve on the streets was attacked for his Hawaiian heritage and learned to defend himself. He became a Golden Gloves boxing standout and, at age 15, lied about his age to join the Army in World War II. He served in the Philippines and, after the war, in Japan. He later worked aboard ocean freighters and then the freighters that plied the Great Lakes.

His daughter Shawn Roberts died in 2012.

Surviving are his wife, the former Geraldine Faykosh, whom he married Aug. 11, 1956; daughter, Cynthia Lynne Levorchick; son, Stephen J. Levorchick; sister, Helen Rusiecki; eight grandchildren, and 18 great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 2-8 p.m. Monday at the Marsh & Marsteller Funeral Home, Luckey, Ohio. Services will be at 11 a.m., Tuesday at St. John's Lutheran Church, Stony Ridge, with visitation after 10 a.m.

The family suggests tributes to Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Troy-Webster American Legion Post 240, or St. John's Lutheran Church, where he was a member.

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