Victor Kissoff

1936 - 2019

(News story) Victor Kissoff, 82, who successfully established his own accounting firm after years in private industry and with a leader in public accounting, died Saturday in Hospice of Northwest Ohio, South Detroit Avenue.

He had cancer, his daughter, Victoria Staifer, said. Most recently of Sylvania Township, Mr. Kissoff and his late wife, Joyce, lived on 109th Street in Point Place as their children were growing up.

Mr. Kissoff, a certified public accountant, retired in 2006 from a firm now called Rayner, Foos, Kruse & Irwin Inc. He left Arthur Young & Co., a leading accounting firm, in 1979 to start an office. Three years later, he teamed with Charles Bracken, a colleague at Arthur Young who was president of United Savings and Loan until its merger with Home Federal Savings and Loan. The firm's name changed as other partners came aboard.

"He was very friendly and got along well with people," Mr. Bracken said. "In all the years we were together, we never had an argument."

His professional attributes were clear decades earlier to Mr. Bracken, who interviewed Mr. Kissoff for a position with Arthur Young. "He was very detail-oriented and could handle it well," he said.

Mr. Kissoff's daughter said: "He loved order and organization. Accounting matched with his personality well."

He received a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1958 from the University of Toledo and was a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the business school's honorary society. He was a cost accountant for the former Page Dairy, from which he received a partial scholarship when he worked nights cleaning out ice cream vats. He was an internal auditor at Libbey-Owens-Ford Co. and a vice president of finance for Tuschman Steel Co.

He was a charter member of the Toledo Estate Planning Council.

He was born Aug. 21, 1936, to Elena and Valcho Kissoff, who settled in East Toledo from Bulgaria the decade before his birth. For years, they ran the Troian, a restaurant at the southeast corner of Main and Front streets.

At Waite High School, he received letters in football, basketball, and track. He served on alumni committees and supported the school's renovation efforts. He was an inductee of Waite's athletic hall of fame and active in the W.A.I.T.E. Inc. scholarship group.

"He met my mother there. They were high school sweethearts," their daughter said.

He was supportive of UT and had season football and basketball tickets. He was a former president of the Downtown Coaches Association.

"He loved sports, and he loved giving back to the community," his daughter said. He was active in the United Way and was on the board of the Toledo Day Nursery.

He was a former member of Messiah Lutheran Church, where he was president of the board of deacons and served on the board of elders.

He and the former Joyce Compton married June 9, 1956. She died March 28, 2014.

Surviving are sons Nicholas Kissoff and Gregory Kisov; daughter, Victoria Staifer; eight grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 2-8 p.m. Friday at the Walker Funeral Home in Sylvania Township. Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Michael Lutheran Church, Ottawa Lake, with visitation after 9 a.m. The family suggests tributes to W.A.I.T.E. Inc. to benefit the Waite High School scholarship fund.

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