Ronald

Tisdale

Ronald "Rocky" Tisdale passed away peacefully on the morning of August 25, 2026, after an arduous battle with aggressive metastatic breast cancer. He was unequivocally the greatest father the world has ever known and was renowned as a kind, compassionate, and loving soul to all.

Born in Toledo, Ohio, on January 29, 1954, Ron was raised in Rossford as part of the Tisdale family legacy of hard work, athletic prowess, and strong Christian ideals inspired by his grandparents, Pastor Clyde E. Tisdale and Thelma Tisdale, and his mother, Dolline, of Rossford First Baptist Church.

A youth filled with sports and manual labor instilled in him a lifetime of unwavering optimism, discipline, and determination. The family grounds-maintenance and refuse service kept him cutting grass, shoveling snow, and "lifting 55-gallon barrels" year-round throughout his teenage years, even before and between two-a-day football practices. This physical development paid off handsomely as he became a record-setting, All-State and All-Star halfback and linebacker, wrestler, and 440-yard sprinter for the Rossford Bulldogs.

He led Rossford to multiple conference championships in football and track before graduating in 1973 and later being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

His success continued at Defiance College, where he again set records and distinguished himself in both football and track, earning MVP, All-Conference, and All-American honors. He graduated in 1977 and was later inducted into the Defiance College Athletic Hall of Fame.

After the East-West Shrine Bowl, a brief stint with the Cleveland Browns, and a period of semi-professional football, he eventually settled in Perrysburg, Ohio, with his loving wife, Terry, while raising their sons, Richard and Ronnie. An endlessly devoted husband, father, and family man, he spent years coaching his sons and countless other young athletes in baseball and football, including undefeated and championship Rossford youth teams.

For nearly forty years, Ron was an award-winning salesman, both corporate and independent, selling everything from sports cards, chemicals, and cigarettes to furniture and floor coverings. Refusing to quit working, he later accepted a retirement job with Final Cut at Hollywood Casino Toledo, where he worked for fourteen years. He continued working and developing a talent for naturalistic photography through his illness and until just months before his passing.

More than his accomplishments, Ron will be remembered for the qualities that defined him throughout his life: his generosity, toughness, easygoing nature, unwavering optimism, humor, and instinctive kindness toward others. He possessed a remarkable ability to be both strong and gentle, competitive and compassionate, and his devotion to his family remained at the center of everything he did.

He was preceded in death by his mother, Dolline Beard; his brothers, Harold "Chubby" and Wilson "Junior"; brother-in-law Mark; and his aunts and uncles Clyde, Jr., Carl "Stevie", Charles "Chuck", Delbert (Judy), Jack (Gloria), Donald (Linda), Margaret.

He is survived by his devoted wife, Terry Lynn; sons Richard and Ronnie; sisters Beverly (Stan) and Margaret; aunts and uncles Gerald, Cathern, Patricia (Claude), Betty, Gary "Petey" (Tammy), and Bishop Duane (Thelma); brother-in-law Roger (Debra) as well as a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and dear friends.

A Celebration of Life will be forthcoming.

*His family would like to thank all of his physicians, nurses and the entire staff at UTMC which were too numerous to name but included Dr. Ragunanthan, Dr. Marshall, Dr. Rashid and Team, Dr. Hadziahmetovic, Dr. Lee, Dr. Patel, Dr. Desai, Dr. Umoh, Dr. Anjum, Dr. Walford, Dr. Allen, UM's Dr. Henry, Matt, Curtis, Lilly, Pepper, Precious and Jess for their diligent care, hard work and service to their noble profession.*