Carl Mockensturm

Carl Mockensturm, 83, of Maumee Ohio, passed away peacefully June 5, 2022, from complications of dementia. He was an outsized character who had a major impact on the Toledo community through his professional accomplishments and lifelong generosity, and he will be greatly missed by his family, friends and business associates.

Carl was born in Toledo, OH, on June 14, 1938, to Bernard Mockensturm, and Catherine (Ronau) Mockensturm. He grew up in the Reynolds Corners area, and graduated from Macomber High School where he learned the construction drafting trade. He attended Toledo University for a while but soon left to “actually do something” in his profession by joining the Bostleman Company. After briefly working for others in the construction business, and with his first child on the way, he decided to strike out on his own and left secure employment. He joined forces with a high school friend, Steve Nowakowski, and with a $500 loan from his father, leveraged the purchase of an old building in Sylvania that he and Steve re-built and sold as their first construction project.

Carl’s success in the construction and real estate development business is renowned. Steve soon left to pursue his own career, and Carl moved on quickly as well to build a construction business that grew to rival the top companies in the Toledo area. You can’t go too far in any direction in Toledo without encountering one of his commercial or multi-family residential projects. In the late 70’s he bought acreage from a farmer on Airport Highway in Holland, Ohio, and eventually developed much of the area we now know as Spring Meadows. He loved to tell the story of how he came up with the name after realizing he had a drainage problem with water “springing up all over the place”. Of course he easily solved that engineering problem, and eventually developed one of the most successful commercial areas in Toledo.

With the success of his many ventures securely in place, Carl decided to re-focus his life on his family and personal life in 1979, when he sold the construction business to his brother Ed, and moved his family to Morrison, Colorado. He couldn’t avoid building projects for long, eventually developing an office complex in Morrison, and building a log home on his ranch in South Park, Colorado. Eventually Carl moved back to the Toledo area in 1984 and thereafter split his time between his home in Monclova, and various homes he personally designed and built in the Ft. Myers, Florida area. In 2019, Carl and his wife Geraldine, decided to permanently move back to Toledo to be closer to family. During his last years Carl experienced some difficult medical problems but he never let them get him down for long. Throughout his life, Carl was a fantastic mentor and was always there to help his children, stepchildren and grandchildren. He also helped many through the Toledo Community Foundation, and through direct aid to people he would meet throughout his life. He was also a life-long devout Catholic, and provided tremendous support to local churches and missionaries throughout the world.

Carl is preceeded in death by his parents; daughter, Melissa Gardner; and son, Michael Mockensturm. He is survived by his wife Geraldine; son Mark Mockensturm (Rob Salem); daughters, Michele Topor (Joe), Margretta Risi (John), and Marilyn Gentz (Will); son-in-law, Dave Gardner; his step children, Karen Lemle (Roger), Roxanne Grinonneau (Lee), Libbey McIwain, and Brad Palicki (Stacey); and numerous grandchildren; step grandchildren; and great grandchildren.

A special thanks to Samantha Bremner for her steadfast love and devotion to Carl in his later years as his assistant and caregiver.

Visitation will be on Thursday, June 9, 2022 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM at the Maison-Dardenne-Walker Funeral Home, 501 Conant Street, Maumee, Ohio, 43537. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic church located at 6149 Hill Ave., Toledo, Ohio, 43615 on Friday, June 10, 2022 at 10:00 A.M followed by internment at Resurrection Cemetery and a luncheon at the Brandywine Country Club, located at 6904 Salisbury Road, Maumee, OH 43537 from 12:30-4:30pm.