William F. Boyle

1930 - 2019

(News story) William F. Boyle, a former Toledo police officer and a successful business owner who was a force in Lucas County Democratic Party politics for part of four decades, served on the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority and Toledo City Council, and ran for mayor, died Tuesday at Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Perrysburg Township. He was 88.

He had developed complications related to Parkinson's disease, his son Mike said.

Home most recently was StonyPoint senior living community in Waterville. Mr. Boyle lived much his retirement on Round Lake Highway in Michigan's Irish Hills, his son said.

Councilman Peter Ujvagi announced Mr. Boyle's death at the Toledo City Council meeting on Tuesday.

"For those of you who have been following politics for a long time, there were no two stronger opponents than Jim Brennan, who was the chairman of the Republican Party, and Bill Boyle, who was the chairman of the Democratic Party," said Mr. Ujvagi, himself a former Democratic party chairman. "When it came to elections, they went at it tooth and nail [campaigning for their candidates].

"But the day after the election they were friends again," he said. "The demeanor of politics back then, the understanding that there were certain things that were important and we would fight for our principles, but we didn't have to demean people, we didn't have to turn them down, and that the whole art of politics is to do good for the community."

Michael Beazley, also a former chairman of the Democratic Party, recalled that, last summer, Mr. Boyle convened a dinner meeting of friends and associates to discuss the local scene.

"He was a strong leader. He was committed to politics," said Mr. Beazley, Oregon city administrator. "But more important, he wanted the community to be successful."

Mr. Boyle still supported candidates.

"People were calling and asking for his opinion," his son Mike said. "He was never really out of it. Once a politician always a politician."

Mr. Boyle's business success came as owner of TolTest Inc., as Toledo Testing Laboratories came to be known. The construction and environmental testing firm won contracts with private sector construction firms as well as governmental agencies, including the City of Toledo and the Ohio Turnpike Commission.

He was president and chief executive in 1995 when he retired, selling his interest in the firm to his son Mike, who in 2005 sold TolTest and retired.

"He had a native intelligence," said Jerry Chabler, a former Toledo Testing president and a longtime friend who served on the police force with Mr. Boyle.

Mr. Boyle had "leadership skills," his son Mike said. "He was smart enough to hire the people who had the technical skills.

"He was always a good judge of character when hiring. I think that goes back to selecting candidates."

Health concerns led Mr. Boyle to resign from Toledo council after nine months in June, 1996, and to give up plans to run for mayor in 1997.

Much of Mr. Boyle's work in party leadership was behind the scenes. Before he was appointed to Toledo council in 1995, a vacancy caused by the death of Eleanor Kahle, Mr. Boyle had not held office. In the limelight during the 1990s, Mr. Boyle was outspoken in his disapproval of the port authority administration and, for a time, of then-Mayor Carty Finkbeiner.

"One of my biggest faults is I tell it like it is, " Mr. Boyle said to The Blade in 1992.

As he announced his resignation, Mr. Boyle told his council colleagues, "I had always been on the outside looking in. Now being on the inside looking out, what a different perspective you have on how the city operates. I am very proud of the city."

Despite his short stint in office, the former Toledo police officer, who lost an eye during a gun battle in which another officer died, had been part of political life in Lucas County since the late 1960s. He earned the nickname "Boss Boyle" in part for the tight discipline he demanded while Democratic Party chairman from 1970 to 1980.

Mr. Boyle was executive director of the party from 1967 to 1980. He returned as chairman of the party for six months in 1983 and 1984.

Although many called him "Boss Boyle" with affection, his son said, Mr. Boyle didn't care for its suggestion of patronage.

"He was an absolute bulldog," his son said. "He was relentless. He was a tireless worker. He stuffed envelopes and put signs out."

Mr. Chabler said: "He not only expected, but he got loyalty, and he gave a lot of loyalty."

In Mr. Boyle's era of party leadership, and earlier, "the party was one of the most important links between candidates and elected officials and voters," Mr. Beazley said. "He was very ahead of his time in reaching out to make sure younger people and women could get engaged in the party in a meaningful way."

Mr. Beazley cited the examples of Mr. Ujvagi, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo), and James Ruvolo, a former Lucas County and Ohio Party chairman.

"He played a significant role in giving them real authority and engaging them," Mr Beazley said.

Mr. Ujvagi, speaking at the city council meeting Tuesday, said: "I still have marks on me from Bill Boyle because he wasn't exactly a soft task master, but he was a special person."

Mr. Boyle's name wasn't the one on the sign or bumper sticker for much of his political career.

"But he could do it all," son Mike said. "He could stand up in front of a thousand people and pump up the party."

Mr. Boyle ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1993, announcing his candidacy when the party he formerly led did not endorse him. In announcing his candidacy, he said he was running as an "independent Democrat."

Following his third-place finish, Mr. Boyle endorsed then-Councilman Finkbeiner in the race to become Toledo's first strong mayor in decades and helped raise money for the campaign. He was a member of Mr. Finkbeiner's "kitchen cabinet." Their relationship frayed during the first year of the new mayor's term.

In September, 1997, Lucas County commissioners appointed Mr. Boyle to a four-year term on the port board. He announced his departure from the board in April, 1998. He previously was a port board member from August, 1994, to September, 1995, when he resigned for the city council appointment.

Born June 5, 1930, to Theresa and Daniel Boyle, Mr. Boyle grew up in the Auburndale neighborhood of central Toledo and was a 1948 graduate of Central Catholic High School and attended Georgetown University. Later he attended the University of Toledo, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1990.

Mr. Boyle was an Air Force veteran, serving as a staff sergeant and a Russian interpreter.

He joined the Toledo police division in 1959, one of four Boyle brothers who became police officers. His brother, Walter, was shot to death in the the line of duty in December, 1961. In mid-1962, Mr. Boyle was shot while answering a domestic disturbance call. His injuries included the loss of the use of his right eye. He retired from the division on disability in 1964.

A community hero, Mr. Boyle ran unsuccessfully for city council in 1965. Still, then-party chairman Morton Neipp groomed him for leadership of the party.

Mr. Boyle also regarded John Kelly, a former party chairman, as a mentor.

Surviving are his sons, Michael and Patrick Boyle; daughters, Kathleen Schwartz, Elizabeth Hancock, and Kristine Dick; brother, Regis Boyle; sisters, Sheila Jennewine, Theresa Eigansee, and Ann Taylor; 14 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Arrangements by Coyle Funeral Home are pending.

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