John A. “Jack” Gollan, who called Toledo home even as he became an executive of trucking firms based elsewhere, died Monday in Lutheran Village at Wolf Creek. He was 90.

He’d fallen the day before, breaking a hip and injuring his back, his niece Kelly Sabol said. He was ill in January with breathing difficulty, but hadn’t tested positive for coronavirus. After a stroke about 20 years ago, he worked hard at physical and speech therapy.

Mr. Gollan, formerly of River Road in South Toledo, retired in 1994 from Bulk Materials Inc. He was an original partner of the Cleveland-based trucking firm formed in the late 1980s as an offshoot of Leaseway Transportation Corp., with which he spent most of his career.

“He was one of those kinds of guys, if you met him, you liked him,” said Wellington F. “Tod” Roemer II, 85, formerly affiliated with the insurance firm his father founded. “He was a hard working, industrious guy. He was the kind of guy you wanted on your team.

“We became wonderful friends and did a lot of business together,” Mr. Roemer said.

Mr. Gollan often was away for work, in the Cleveland area or elsewhere, but he always came back to Toledo.

“He loved Toledo. He was a T-O-L-E-D-O kind guy,” Mr. Roemer said.

Mr. Gollan had been an officer of the former University of Toledo Alumni Foundation. His late brother, Thomas Gollan, was executive director of the Boys’ Club of Toledo from 1967 until his death in 1972. In his brother’s honor, Mr. Gollan served on the organization’s board for more than a quarter century, as it became the Boys and Girls Clubs of Toledo.

He couldn’t attend many meetings or take part in other board functions, because of his other responsibilities. 

“He gave monetarily and of his advice when you needed him,” said Dave Wehrmeister, who was Boys and Girls Club executive director from 2000 until 2021. “He was always there when we needed him.”

Mr. Gollan also was a supporter of the National Museum of the Great Lakes in East Toledo, Mr. Roemer said.

“When he supported something, he did it with all his heart,” Mr. Roemer said. “He was a pay-it-forward, give-back kind of guy.”

Mr. Gollan began his career with Refiners Transport and Terminal Corp., a bulk trucking company in Detroit, and gained promotions through the ranks. When Leaseway acquired the firm, he became an officer of Leaseway.

He also was an officer in regional and national trade organizations.

“He was very confident,” his niece said. “He was very smart. He was very charismatic. He worked hard. In the early days, he sacrificed. He was in Cleveland a lot, because that’s where the company was based. He made a name for himself and was very successful.”

John Austin Gollan was born April 10, 1932, in Buenos Aires to Julia and John Gollan. His parents met while students at Ohio State University and moved to his father’s native Argentina after marriage. In 1940, prompted by the start of World War II, his mother returned to her parents’ home in Lucas County’s Washington Township with Mr. Gollan and his younger brother, Thomas. 

He was a 1949 graduate of Whitmer High School, where he played football. A Navy veteran, he served as a combat air crewman on an anti-submarine squadron in the Atlantic fleet.

Afterward, he attended UT, where he was president of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and served as an officer in student government.

He was an ardent supporter of Ohio State sports. He and his wife were sailors, on Lake Erie and while spending winters in Florida, and world travelers.

He was a member of Hinsdale Lodge, AF&AM, and locally of the Zenobia Shrine. He had been a member of the Toledo Country Club, the Catawba Island Club, and the Rockwell Springs Trout Club.

He and his UT sweetheart, the former Iva E. Barnhart, married in 1959. Three years earlier, he was business manager and she was editor of the Blockhouse, the university yearbook. She died Oct. 11, 2012.

There are no immediate survivors.

Family and friends may visit from 3-8 p.m. Monday at Ansberg-West Funeral Home, where memorial services will begin at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

The family suggests tributes to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Toledo.

First Published May 22, 2022, 4:00 a.m.