Blade photographer saw the world through his lens

Mark Zaborney The Blade mzaborney@theblade.com

Lee Merkle, whose camera captured scenes spectacular and routine, household names and everyday people, during a 38-year Blade career, died Saturday in his West Toledo residence. He was 92.

He had congestive heart failure, his daughter Cheryl Lee Koenig said.

Mr. Merkle retired as a Blade photographer at the end of October, 1994. He sailed — his longtime favorite pastime — and spent winters at Fort Myers, Fla. Known for being gregarious, he worked in Florida as a supermarket bagger.

“That was his way to get out and meet people,” his daughter said.

Years into retirement, he went out prepared to document whatever he might encounter.

“We used to kid with him that he had his camera with him all the time, except when he was in church,” his daughter said. “Even now, I would be taking him to a doctor’s appointment, and he was, “Wait a minute. I have to get my camera.’”

One of his favorite assignments, Mr. Merkle said before he retired, was for a Sunday magazine piece about the tall-masted square-rigger from Norway, Christian Radich. He boarded the vessel in Detroit and photographed its entrance into Maumee Bay and Toledo.

For an aerial view, Mr. Merkle climbed the ratlines of the main mast for a view 90 feet above the water.

His series of photos received a first place award in the Ohio News Photographers Associations’ sports feature category.

In 2001, after he retired, Mr. Merkle took photos from high atop the French schooner Bel Espoir II, among tall ships in the Detroit River for that city’s tricentennial in 2001.

He covered spot news events during his career — fires and crashes — and sporting events at all levels of competition. He was at galas and government meetings.

He covered the “blizzard of ’78” from snow drifts and in aerial shots. He was on hand for the spectacular blaze at the former Tiedtke’s Department Store in 1975 and in the aftermath of the lightning strike to the steeple of Historic St. Patrick Church downtown.

“Lee was very conscientious. He was willing to shoot any assignment,” said Luke Black, a retired Blade chief photographer. “Any time he had to get people together for pictures, he did really well.”

If his subjects at, for instance, a society function were sailors, all the better.

“He’d tell you he had the best job in the world,” his daughter said. “He loved the social part of it. I always say it was like a Hollywood job for him. People would recognize him everywhere we’d go.”

Leroy Paul Merkle was born Nov. 23, 1928, to Cecile and Leroy Merkle. He grew up in East Toledo and was a 1946 graduate of Central Catholic High School. He attended Bowling Green State University and, while in the Navy, attended the Navy School of Photography in Pensacola, Fla.

He became a photographer’s mate and served aboard an icebreaker to take photos of the Arctic ice.

Afterward, he was an industrial photographer for Owens-Illinois Inc. before becoming a photographer for The Blade and the former Toledo Times.

Mr. Merkle was a longtime member of the Toledo Ski Club and North Cape Yacht Club.

His marriage to the former Carole Koerber ended in divorce.

He and Beverly Jane Fowler married May 16, 2006. She died Sept. 20, 2016.

Surviving are his daughters Cheryl Koenig and Lisa Hayes; sons Christopher, Matthew, Jay, and Kevin; sister, Elaine Majer, and 12 grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will begin at noon Feb. 6 at Christ the King Church, which will be livestreamed on the parish website. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. in the church narthex, and the wearing of masks will be required. A life celebration will be held later. Arrangements are by Urbanski Funeral Home.

The family suggests tributes to the Toledo Zoo or the Toledo Ski Club.

Lee Merkle, 1965 Toldeo Blade, portrait

Lee Merkle, 1958 Toldeo Blade, portrait

https://www.toledoblade.com/news/deaths/2021/01/21/toledo-blade-obituaries-lee-merkle-blade-photographer-saw-the-world-through-his-lens/stories/20210120136

Leroy Paul Merkle, Jr (1928)