Ward Thiel passed away on April 9, 2017 in Willoughby, Ohio, after a full and long life of 98 years.

He was born in Aurora, Illinois, the only son of George and Dorothy (Phillips) Thiel. He was happily married to Miriam L. (Schumacher) Thiel for 66 years until her passing in 2008.

Ward has one son, Mark, and a daughter, Carol LoPiccolo, now deceased, and four grandchildren.

In his later years, he enjoyed being in touch with all of his immediate family living in Texas, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. Ward grew up around extended family in Illinois and graduated from the U. of Michigan with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1941. His father, son, and two of his grandsons are also engineers.

In 1946 he moved to the Cleveland area for a job at Perfection Stove Co., shortly after discharge from the U.S. Navy, where he served on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific.

Ward specialized in tooling for sheet metal fabrication, including roll forming, for which he contributed to the ASM Metals Handbook, 8th Edition, on the subject. For most of his career he worked for two firms, EF Hauserman and Donn Products, where he was Chief Tooling Engineer.

He played softball and pitched for several teams in Aurora and later in the Cleveland area, in both industrial and church leagues. Ward and his family lived in South Euclid, Brecksville, and Westlake up until 1996.

Before and during retirement, he enjoyed golf with many friends, family, and work associates. A favorite volunteer activity during his early retirement was working for five years on rehab projects for Habitat for Humanity Cleveland. Ward spent the last two decades living in the Breckenridge Village community in Willoughby.
He was a member of the Willoughby United Methodist Church and his ashes will be interred at the columbarium there.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Habitat for Humanity.