James Richard Weyer, a Toledo photographer who received international acclaim for his work documenting knives, presidents, tornadoes, and more, died at the Springfield Masonic Community in Springfield, Ohio on Jan. 2. He was 87.

His daughter, Dawn Wacenske, said that he passed away peacefully of natural causes. 

Mr. Weyer was born in Cleveland to parents James Ellwood and Orpha Weyer. The family moved to Toledo, and he graduated from Macomber High School in 1952.

He married Louise Ann Gulyas in 1954. She died in 2015. The couple worked together to form Weyer International, where she helped run the operations side of the studio.

Mr. Weyer, known as “Jim” to friends and family, worked in the business for over 50 years. His photography hobby started in high school, where he found time to take pictures of professional wrestlers at the Toledo Sports Arena.

That hobby eventually became a passion and a career. Ms. Wacenske said that he would practice his craft by taking pictures of her and her two brothers, Russ and Brian, when they were children.

When he opened his studio, he started out working weddings, but eventually got into commercial photography. He carved out a niche by taking an interest in photographing knives, highlighting the details through the reflectivity lighting technique that he perfected by photographing Libbey glassware.

"People can't believe I made a living out of knives," Mr. Weyer told The Blade in 2009. 

His work would go on to be featured in several knife collecting publications such as Knife magazine and Blade magazine.

“He created a network…for all of these [knife] makers who ended up being able to distribute and get famous or take care of their careers,” his daughter said. “So he is a pioneer in that.”

The Toledo area brought high levels of competition in the photography business, but Mr. Weyer was always highly respected by his peers.

“To have Jim Weyer agree to take your knife and photograph your knife, you were pretty honored that he found your work worthy of his time,” said Bob Lubell, owner of Grand Lubell Photography.

Over the years, Mr. Weyer did work for clients such as Owens-Illinois, Owens Corning, Libbey-Owens-Ford, and Toledo Electric. He was the man behind the camera documenting the return of O-I executive William Niehous following more than three years of being held captive by Venezuelan guerillas. The photos were featured in a 1979 edition of Life magazine.

Mr. Weyer also documented the Palm Sunday tornadoes that hit Toledo and Point Place in 1965, photographed and met at least eight different U.S. presidents and accompanied Neil Armstrong on a fishing trip in Iceland. Ms. Wacenske said that the two stayed in touch through writing letters in the years after the trip.

Mr. Weyer’s endeavors influenced his family, as well. His two boys discovered their love for the game of ice hockey at a young age because they had season tickets to watch the Toledo Blades, a perk that came from their dad, who took the team photos.

“It spring-boarded us into doing that, which is kind of fun because he got into so many things, it was amazing,” his son, Russ Weyer said. 

Jim Weyer closed his studio in 2009 upon retirement.

He was an active member of the community through the Toledo Rotary Club and also was a woodworker and an avid shark fisherman. 

“A shark is a marvel of nature,” Mr. Weyer told The Blade in 1975. “It was an ideal eating machine when it was created, and it’s never had to evolve.” 

He was a collector of many things, amassing autographs from those he met, knives he had photographed and a unique set of mounted, unborn sharks. That collection is now with Russ in Florida, who said that he plans to donate them to the conservancy in Naples in his father’s name.

Mr. Weyer is survived by his brother, Danny Weyer, two sons, Russ and Brian Weyer, daughter, Dawn Wacenske, two grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

A private service is expected to be held at a later date. Tributes can be made to The Ohio Masonic Foundation; 2655 W. National Dr; Springfield, Ohio, 45504 or online, the family requests.

First Published January 10, 2022, 5:00 a.m.