Robert Benhoff Gogel

Robert Benhoff "Bob" Gogel, 78, passed away peacefully on Sunday, November 14, 2021, at Ebeid Hospice in Sylvania, Ohio.

A lifelong Toledoan, Bob was born at Toledo Hospital to Walter and Ruth (Benhoff) Gogel. After graduating from DeVilbiss High School in 1962, Bob spent his entire career working at the Walter Gogel Company, a wholesale industrial supply business founded by his father Walter in 1939, and located in downtown Toledo. Walter started the business with a loan from his father-in-law, which he (Walter) used to purchase the assets of the original Gogel family blacksmith shop and spring manufacturing business begun by Walter's immigrant grandfather in the 1870's on Erie Street in downtown Toledo.

Bob got his start at the Walter Gogel Company working summers while still in high school. By the time he graduated, his father was in his sixties and thinking of retiring and selling the business, so Bob faced a decision: whether to go to college, or join the business and learn as much as he could. He had always been mechanically inclined and interested in technical details such as how machines work, and chose to join the company. He worked his way up through various levels of responsibility, following in his father's footsteps and embracing his father's devotion to the business. After Walter died in 1986, Bob became President and continued in that capacity until the business was sold in 2006. Bob was very proud of the company and made customer service the number one priority. The company sold fasteners (nuts, bolts, screws), tools and industrial products such as lubricants, adhesives and abrasives, and at one time manufactured springs based on customer specifications, and earned the reputation of stocking many hard-to-find items no other Toledo business carried. He considered all the customers and employees his friends and treated them as such.

He is survived by his loving wife, Margo; stepchildren, Sasha Wright (Jerry Michalkiewicz), Wesley (Kristen) Wright, and Vanessa Wright, David Zapadka, Anne Marie Zapadka and Julie Zapadka; and brother, David (Susan) Gogel; niece, Kimberly Gogel McElroy; nephew, Jeffrey (Allison) Gogel; and four great-nephews. In addition to his parents he was preceded in death by his first wife, Mary Ann (Nicely) Zapadka.

Friends and family are invited to visit Sunday, November 21, 2021 from 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. at Newcomer Funeral Home – West Sylvania Chapel, 3655 King Rd., Toledo, OH 43617 (419-392-9500) and from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. on Monday, November 22, 2021 where Funeral Services will begin at 11:00 a.m. in the funeral home. The family is requesting that masks please be worn. Interment will follow in Toledo Memorial Park in Sylvania.

In lieu of flowers and in honor of Bob's love for dogs and cats, the family asks that donations be considered to local charities, Paws & Whiskers Cat Shelter, 32 Hillwyck Dr., Toledo, OH, 43615 or Toledo Humane Society, 827 Illinois Ave., Maumee, OH 43537.

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