WOODVILLE — Robert R. Heineman, a community volunteer who advanced through the ranks of his hometown bank, from bookkeeper to president and chairman, died Thursday at Otterbein Pemberville SeniorLife Community in Wood County’s Troy Township. He was 89.

He was in declining health after breaking a hip last summer, his wife, Clara Heineman, said. The couple moved to the Otterbein community more than a year ago.

He retired in 1989 after 42 years at what had become Huntington National Bank of Woodville. For his 40th anniversary, on July 7, 1987, Woodville Mayor Richard Harman proclaimed “Robert Heineman Day.”  

“Bob was very community minded,” Mr. Harman said Friday. “He served the community and got a lot of people their first loan, their first homes. These people are priceless. We’re going to miss him.”

For the event, the bank held a reception, but “the banking still went on,” Mr. Heineman’s wife said. “It was amazing the number of people who came in to say hi and shake his hand and wish him well.”

He graduated in 1947 from Woodville High School. Arthur Emch, a longtime Woodville State Bank executive, hired him that July to be a bookkeeper. 

“He started right at the bottom,” his wife said. He won promotions to teller and the cashier’s office. Huntington Bancshares took over the independent bank in 1972 with the approval of Mr. Emch, who had become president and chairman. Mr. Heineman by the late 1970s was senior vice president and cashier. He was named president in 1981.

“He could relate to the rich and the poor, and he was a good fit for this community,” said his brother, Paul Heineman, retired Woodville Township fire chief. 

Many loan applicants knew him as they grew up, “and he helped their children and their children,” his wife said. “He had a way about him that he wanted to help you if he could, and he did.”

He was a former state director of the Bank Administration Institute. He had a tax preparation service for several years after retiring.

He was a member of the Woodville Board of Education and, after consolidation with Elmore, of the Woodmore school board. He also served on the Sandusky County Board of Education. He was a director of Luther Home of Mercy in Williston, Ohio, which serves people with developmental disabilities — “our favorite charity beyond the church,” his wife said.

He volunteered for committees and ministries of Solomon Lutheran Church, where he was a lifelong member. He was treasurer of Woodville’s Independence Day festivities for 25 years.

He was born May 1, 1929, in Woodville to Verna and Roy Heineman. He was an Army veteran of the Korean War. He qualified as a sniper, but when command officers learned of his bank experience, he was made a finance officer.

“He said he could hear the shooting, but he never was in danger,” his wife said.

Surviving are his wife, the former Clara Gerwin, whom he married Nov. 19, 1950; son, William R. Heineman; daughter, Amy Richcreek; brother, Paul Heineman, and two grandchildren. 

Visitation will be from 2-7 p.m. Saturday in the Marsh & Marsteller Funeral Home in Woodville. Funeral services will be at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Solomon Lutheran Church, Woodville, where the body will be after 1:30 p.m.

The family suggests tributes to the Solomon Lutheran Church endowment fund; Luther Home of Mercy, or Otterbein Pemberville SeniorLife.

First Published January 26, 2019, 5:00 a.m.