William Buckley

1943 - 2025

News story
By Eric Taunton
Blade staff writer

William Buckley, a longtime businessman known for his love of family and community as well as his passion for the Great Lakes, died on Nov. 30. He was 82.

His son, Michael Buckley, said his father died due to complications with pneumonia while recovering from an injury.

Mr. Buckley was "all you could ask for" as a father, his son said.

"Both of them, my dad and my mom, were always very selfless with their time, and that meant, especially for us, being very ... involved in the community [and] was also very involved with our education, our sports, and our growth."

Mr. Buckley's wife, Jean Buckley, said her husband was a well-educated man who was passionate about his community, leading him to volunteer for organizations including the National Museum of the Great Lakes, Toledo Day Nursery, and the Toledo Symphony.

"He was well-educated," Mrs. Buckley said. "He knew a lot of stuff and was very much involved in history."

Mr. Buckley was best known in the community for his roles at Owens-Illinois and Hylant Group, his wife said. He served for 20 years at Owens-Illinois in different divisions, including administration and risk management.

After his time at Owens-Illinois, Mr. Buckley spent another 18 years at Hylant Group as its president and chief operations officer, retiring in 2009.

William Buckley was born on Jan. 26, 1943, to Cornelius and Evelyn Buckley in the Bronx, N.Y., before moving to Metuchen, N.J., where he primarily grew up, Mrs. Buckley said. He attended high school at St. Benedict's Prep Academy in Newark, graduating in 1960.

After graduating high school, the New York native went on to fulfill his childhood dream of joining the Navy, becoming a member of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps when he attended the University of Nebraska on an NROTC scholarship.

"The Navy was always his goal," Mrs. Buckley said. "Afterward, he was basically sent to Vietnam."

He graduated from the university in 1964 and served on patrol ships in the Mediterranean Sea during the Vietnam War, she said.

"He was based in Sasebo, Japan," Mrs. Buckley said. "His ship would sail from Sasebo to Vietnam, and it would be along the coast of Vietnam. They would be checking for junk on other ships. They would board them, and they would check for weapons and things like that."

He spent his last year in the Navy as an assistant professor of naval science at the Ohio State University, where he graduated with a master's degree from the university's Fisher College of Business in 1971, Mrs. Buckley said.

When he moved to Toledo to start his new job at Owens-Illinois, he married Mrs. Buckley in 1974. The pair met through Mr. Buckley's sister, whom Mrs. Buckley worked with at the same school in New Jersey, she said.

"He was very good looking," Mrs. Buckley said of her thoughts when she first met him.

Mr. Buckley became a regular community volunteer after he was hired by Owens-Illinois, initially because the company encouraged its employees to be involved with organizations that give back to the community.

Eventually, he became board chairman of the National Museum of the Great Lakes, overseeing the museum's transition from Vermillion, Ohio, to its current location on Front Street in East Toledo.

"It was an empty building," she said. "I remember going in [and] there was just walls. They had plans, and they had good architects, and it turned out beautifully."

After he retired from Hylant Group in 2009, he remained active in volunteering, serving on the boards of several organizations.

Mr. Buckley is survived by his wife, Jean Buckley; sons Michael Buckley and James Buckley; daughter Katherine Reing; and eight grandchildren.

Visitation will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Walker Funeral Home, 5155 Sylvania Ave., in Toledo, with a funeral Mass at 11 a.m. at Gesu Catholic Church in Toledo on Wednesday. Visitation will be held before the funeral from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Interment will be private.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks all donations made in his name to be directed to the National Museum of the Great Lakes or the Toledo Symphony.