Lois Sawicki, a support to her husband’s business and music ventures who was dedicated to acts of charity, died Friday in Lakes of Monclova Health Campus in Monclova Township. She was 82.

The cause of death was unknown. She had dementia, but no other known health problems, her daughter Lisa said.

Mrs. Sawicki’s late husband, Jerry, was known for his success in real estate and business — and in jazz circles, as a respected saxophonist.

“Looking back, she was instrumental in his success. Their successes,” her daughter said. “Back then, the wife behind the scenes was doing a lot of the socializing and entertaining and making sure things went smoothly. That’s what she did, and she did it well.”

One year, her husband was away on business 270 days and nights, son Jerry Sawicki III said. She ran the household.

“Actually, she was what made my dad,” their son said. “She was the strength behind my dad. She was managing the family affairs. My mother was able to balance time with him and the kids and kept us all together and kept the marriage together. I never met a couple that loved each other as much as they did.”

The couple in the late 1990s moved into a large house they’d designed and built in Springfield Township. They played host there to charitable events in support of Maumee Valley County Day School and Central Catholic High School. The couple were major benefactors to St. John’s Jesuit High School. The school’s music center was built through their donation. She also supported the Toledo Opera Guild and the Toledo Symphony and Central City Ministries.

She demonstrated grace as a guest and in welcoming guests to her own home.

“I walk up to people with a smile and I tell them my name and ask their name and ask them where they’re from,” Mrs. Sawicki told The Blade in 1997. “You try to be a little complimentary about their clothes, a scent, anything that would stand out.”

She and her husband invited into their home a young man from Jamaica who’d been orphaned and aspired to a U.S. college education. They played host to a family from Vietnam, and she showed them how to navigate grocery stores. While in the Bahamas, she took supplies that she noticed the residents needed.

“These were quiet things my mom did that weren’t always visible,” her son said.

She was born Feb. 9, 1932, to Emma and Herman Kolbe and was a 1950 graduate of Napoleon High School. She became a fan of her husband and his music from the moment she saw him performing in a Napoleon club and told her date that she was going to marry that saxophonist some day. The couple eloped to Angola, Ind., less than a year later.

She’d weathered difficult times in her youth, but she didn’t let it keep her down.

“The thing she told me was ‘Put a smile on your face, and the day eventually gets better,’ ” her daughter said.

She and Henry J. “Jerry” Sawicki, Jr., married Jan. 27, 1951. He died Dec. 21, 2011.

Surviving are her daughters Jana Sawicki, Jill Sawicki, and Lisa Holman; son Jerry Sawicki III; six grandchildren; two stepgrandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.

The family will greet guests from 4-7 p.m. Friday in Coyle Funeral Home.

The family suggests tributes to the Alzheimer’s Association, Northwest Ohio Chapter.

Contact Mark Zaborney at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.

First Published September 25, 2014, 4:32 a.m.