Thomas P. Duross

Thomas Patrick Duross, 88, Sylvania Township, died, August 16, 2022. He will always be remembered as a devoted husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, son, brother, uncle, and friend.

He was born September 27, 1933, in Detroit, Michigan, the son of the late Dennis P. Duross and Marilyn Duross.

On September 8, 1956, he married the former Margaret Jean (Peggy) Lawless at St. Benedict Catholic Church, Pontiac. They were married 57 years when she died in 2014.

Tom graduated from the University of Detroit with a Bachelor of Science in journalism and was editor-in-chief of the Varsity News, the student newspaper. He became a lecturer with the General Motors Parade of Progress, a science and engineering show that traveled the United States and Canada.

His newspaper career began in 1956 as a reporter at the Springfield Daily News in Springfield, Ohio. His reporting on substandard housing in Springfield led the city to establish an urban renewal program and won him the Heller Award, given in conjunction with The Ohio State University School of Journalism, for the best reporting of the Ohio Public Affairs in 1958. He later was a reporter for The Blade in Toledo.

Tom began his 33-year Chrysler career in 1963 at the Indianapolis Electrical Plant, and after assignments in communications, training, and labor relations he was named personnel manager at the Toledo Machining Plant. He also served as group personnel manager for Acustar, Inc., Chrysler’s Detroit-based network of parts manufacturing in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. He returned to Toledo in 1989 as personnel manager at the Toledo Jeep Assembly Plant and retired in 1996. He served for some 30 years as a management representative on the Toledo Labor-Management-Citizens Committee, a civic group devoted to resolving labor disputes and promoting workplace harmony.

He was a member of Corpus Christi University Parish.

Surviving are daughters Ann Marie Duross (Ken Luymes), Manhattan, New York, Jane Duross and Eileen Duross, both of Toledo, Mary Ellen Coyne (Richard), Columbus, Ohio; sons, Dennis (Becky Simmermacher), Lexington, Kentucky, and William, Toledo; sisters, Kathleen Sill (Ron), Commerce Township, Michigan, Patricia Greenlees, Waterford, Michigan; grandsons Mitchell, Owen, Richard, Dennis, and Matthew; granddaughter Lisa; great grandsons Desmond and Mason, and great granddaughter Emilia; and many wonderful nieces, nephews and cousins. His sisters, Honore Demski and Eleanore White, preceded him in death.

A private visitation will be held for family only at Walker Funeral Home, 5155 W Sylvania Ave. A funeral Mass of the Resurrection will be held at Corpus Christi University Parish on Monday, August 22, 2022, at 2:00 pm. A livestream of Mass will be viewable at ccup.org/live/. Interment will follow at Toledo Memorial Park. To send flowers or condolences, visit walkerfuneralhomes.com. Memorial contributions may be made to Corpus Christi University Parish or a charity of the donor’s choice.