The original investors included Harold McMaster, Norman Nitschke, and Frank Larimer, who were principals in Glasstech Inc. of Toledo; Robert Tyner, Mr. Palmer’s engineering firm partner; Dr. Richard Loeffler, an orthopedic surgeon of Toledo. California had its entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley. Toledo had LaValley — Richard LaValley, Sr., the Sylvania lawyer who died Friday.

Mr. LaValley provided the financial and business acumen for a software firm that started in Perrysburg and ended up being bought by computer giant Microsoft for about $173 million worth of Microsoft stock. Mr. LaValley died at home of apparent heart failure. He was 86.

He was the founding partner at the LaValley, LaValley, Todak, and Schaeffer law firm on Monroe Street in Sylvania.

Mr. LaValley brought together investors in a software research firm with David Fulton, former chairman of Bowling Green State University’s computer science department.

The partnership between Mr. LaValley and Mr. Fulton led to the development of FoxPro database software, a database program that was cheaper and faster than its competitors.

Fox Software Inc. operated out of Country Charm shopping center in Perrysburg with 150 employees. The business had 100,000 customers when it was merged in 1992 with Microsoft.

Mr. LaValley was an investor with eight other people in 1983 in Fox Research, with Mr. LaValley as chairman and a director. The initial investors first put in $25,000 and then seven put in an additional $15,000 each, with Mr. LaValley acquiring the interests of the two other investors.

Mr. LaValley in 1986 formed a joint venture with Mr. Fulton to develop database software that was highly rated for its speed at the time. A review of FoxBASE in The Blade in 1987 observed that FoxBASE Plus “lets you use more than 16 files simultaneously.”

After the sale to Microsoft, Mr. LaValley and Mr. Fulton were sued by a Toledo engineer, Delos Palmer, Jr., who contended that he had been unfairly cut out of his fair share of profits by owners of Fox Software and other computer-related firms.

Other shareholders in the original corporation settled for a little over $400,000. A jury, hearing the case in Toledo, awarded $22 million, which was reduced by a judge to about $13.7 million. The verdict was then reversed by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1997, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal.

Mr. Palmer collected a $3 million settlement from Mr. Fulton to be excluded from the case.

Dr. Loeffler said Sunday that he did not agree with Mr. Palmer that the original investors were unfairly denied royalties for Fox Software Inc.

“Palmer sort of felt we should have gotten more money, but I thought we were treated fairly,” Dr. Loeffler said. He acknowledged being surprised by the size of the Microsoft purchase, nine years after their original investment.

“I think Fulton was pretty much the brains behind it, and Dick LaValley was smart enough to know that,” Dr. Loeffler said. “He offered me the opportunity, and I took it.”

Mr. Fulton stayed with Microsoft and moved to the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash., to head up a new Database and Development Tools Division.

The late Mr. LaValley’s son, Richard LaValley, Jr., said his father was not a techie but did early on appreciate the importance of the new technology to business.

“He was one of the first in town to purchase a computer and start using word processing and spreadsheets,” Mr. LaValley said.

Other business investments included Fiberglas windows and doors, solar technology, and real estate in Toledo, Columbus, Indianapolis, and North Carolina. He formed at least three charitable foundations.

His business successes made possible the philanthropy Mr. LaValley lavished on Toledo, especially on its Catholic schools.

Mr. LaValley was a member of the first lay board at St. Francis de Sales High School. That board hired as principal, later to become its longtime president, the Rev. Ronald Olszewski, who retired in June.

Father Olszewski said Mr. LaValley was a major financial donor to the school, donating to the new athletic stadium and the expansion on the west side to Evansdale Avenue. The only thing he wouldn’t pay for was a swimming pool, Father Olszewski said.

“He’s been very generous to us but all the other schools too. He was a giant of a man, brilliant,” he said.

The family will receive friends at the Reeb Funeral Home, Sylvania on Tuesday September 8 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Wednesday, September 9 from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. with the Rosary recited at 7 p.m. The funeral mass will be at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Sylvania on Thursday September 10 at 10 a.m. Burial will follow at Resurrection Cemetery.

Contributions may be made to Hope Learning Academy of Toledo or Northwest Ohio Scholarship Fund. 5800 Monroe St. Bldg F. Sylvania, Ohio 43560.

Contact Tom Troy: tomtroy@theblade.com or 419-724-6058 or on Twitter @TomFTroy.

First Published September 7, 2015, 4:00 a.m.