Thomas B. Geiger Sr.

1932 - 2018

(News story) Thomas B. Geiger, Sr., who as chief executive of a local tire retailer founded by his father oversaw its growth into an industry powerhouse, died Thursday in Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Perrysburg Township. He was 86.

He had cancer, yet he spent a full day at the office the week before his death, said his son, Tom, Jr.

"The industry and the people he worked with in the industry were essentially his life," his son said. "That's the motor that kept him going."

Capital Tire Group was a Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. distributor for more than 70 years and has been among the top five Goodyear dealers, his son said, with 10 warehouses in three states distributing more than a million tires annually. Last fall, Richard Kramer, Goodyear's chief executive, invited the Geigers, father and son, to Akron and bestowed an honor on the firm for its loyalty as a Goodyear dealership.

"It was a delight," his son said. "My father was held in very high esteem in the tire industry."

His father, Benjamin Geiger, started the business in 1919. Mr. Geiger had part-time duties while a Central Catholic High School student - on weekends, summers. When he graduated in 1950, 1001 Cherry St. became his full-time work address for the next 68 years.

He became president and owner of Capital Tire when his father semiretired in 1962, his son said.

"He had great vision of what was going on in the automobile industry, and so that means what was going on in the tire industry," his son said. "He was good at having the right tires at the right time and the right place.

"My father had a wonderful insight on who to surround himself with. He was able to hire and nurture and mentor wonderful, dedicated employees through a long career," the younger Mr. Geiger said.

Capital Tire started out as a retail business and later expanded to 20 retail Tom's Tire & Auto locations in Ohio and Michigan. The firm decided in recent years to focus on the wholesale and distribution side of the business and sold the retail locations.

Born June 11, 1932, to Dorothy and Benjamin Geiger at what is now Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center, Mr. Geiger took pride in his ties to Cherry Street - born at St. Vincent; educated at Central Catholic, and a life's work at the company headquarters.

"He was very attached to this town," his son said. Mr. Geiger served on the foundation board at St. Vincent and was a Central Catholic benefactor.

He was a former president of the Toledo Club and was a 66-year member of Inverness Club. He was on the advisory board of the Toledo Mud Hens and Walleye.

"I would describe him as the consummate gentleman. He was kind beyond description," said Michael Miller, chairman and chief executive of Waterford Bank. "He gave money to a lot of things, but he didn't give money to have his name published somewhere.

"He was a father figure and a brother and a best friend, all rolled in one," Mr. Miller said. "He could go into whatever setting, and he would strike up a conversation with anyone, and of course they had no idea who he was. He didn't care if you were worth two cents or 2 billion."

Mr. Geiger sailed the Great Lakes and, for 25 years, took his boat to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was a member of the Toledo Yacht Club and the Catawba Island Club.

He was formerly married to the late Therese Gladieux Geiger. His daughter, Jeanine Vandendriesche, died in 2014.

Surviving are his wife, the former Brenda Diemer, whom he married in November, 1979; sons, Thomas B., Jr., and Richard Geiger; five grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

There will be no visitation, and a Mass will be scheduled later. Funeral arrangements are by Ansberg-West Funeral Home. The family suggests tributes to Hospice of Northwest Ohio.

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