Troy Bernhard, a Perrysburg Township firefighter known for his quick wit, delicious birthday cakes, and love for his wife and children, died Friday at Mercy Health Perrysburg Hospital. He was 49.
Mr. Bernhard died following a two-year battle with occupational bladder cancer associated with firefighting, a diagnosis he received in 2021, his wife, Rachel, said.
Her husband was someone who loved being a firefighter, cooking for his neighbors, and being the “traveling sports dad” for his children, Mrs. Bernhard said.
“He just had fun,” she said. “He made life interesting.”
Kevin Bernhard, Mr. Bernhard’s brother who retired as fire chief for the Monclova Township Fire Department in April, said he remembers how much he loved his wife and children.
“He was a big family guy,” he said.
Troy Bernhard was born on Jan. 2, 1975, to Larry Bernhard and Cheryl Deitrich in Toledo. He was raised in Monclova Township and graduated from Anthony Wayne High School in 1993.
Firefighting was “in his blood,” his wife said, which led him to start working as a firefighter for the Monclova Township Fire Department during high school in 1991.
Mr. Bernhard’s sense of service came from seeing so many family members who, either through dispatch or EMS, worked for the Monclova Township Fire Department, Mrs. Bernhard said.
His father started at the fire department in 1962, a year after the department was founded, and his mother worked as a dispatcher from home, Kevin Bernhard said.
After graduating high school, Troy Bernhard immediately started volunteering for the emergency department at Cedar Point, which was “probably one of his best summers as a young kid,” Mrs. Bernhard said.
“Here’s a guy who was afraid of heights but would climb the Magnum to help people down on a stuck train,” Mrs. Bernhard said. “He loved Cedar Point.”
He went on to work for the Waterville Fire Department before being hired full time at the Perrysburg Township Fire Department in 1996, where he would serve 28 years.
Perrysburg Township Fire Chief Tom Brice said he knew Mr. Bernhard for “every one of those 28 years” and remembers the passion he had for the job.
“Not everybody is born into it, per se, but there’s still part of your DNA that makes you different,” he said. “That makes you run into a burning building when everybody else is running out and makes you take care of people with COVID and live with the consequences that could affect your health.”
During his 28 years as a firefighter, Mr. Bernhard earned the nickname “Crafty” because of the pieces of makeshift art he made around Station 74, the chief said.
“You can’t walk anywhere, really, without seeing something that he’s made hanging on the walls,” Chief Brice said. “In our administration office ... he made this giant, hand-stitched leather shield that’s probably two foot by three or four feet tall, and it hangs on our wall down here. He made a flag in our apparatus bay that’s made out of old fire hoses. He loved doing stuff like that.”
Chief Brice respected how Mr. Bernhard would tell him what he thought about any situation, even if he didn’t want to hear it.
“He was incredibly honest,” he said. “Troy would tell you how he saw it. Even as the fire chief, I could always count on Troy to tell me what he was thinking. Good, bad, or indifferent. Some people sugarcoat what they’re saying to the fire chief. I could always get an honest answer.”
Mr. Bernhard met his wife of 18 years while working for the Perrysburg Township Fire Department in 1997, she said. Mrs. Bernhard worked as an emergency dispatcher for the township at the time.
They were friends for a few years before deciding to finally date after a severe car accident on I-75 that involved several firefighters — including Mr. Bernhard — and police officers in March, 2003.
“It was right after that that we started to date,” Mrs. Bernhard said. “We connected on a different level after he recovered from his injuries. That crash sparked something because you get to that point where you have to realize that we’re wasting time because of our jobs. That was a pretty bad crash that could have easily taken somebody’s life.”
The couple married at Saints Adalbert & Hedwig Parish on Lagrange Street in 2006, having their daughter, Samantha, and son, Joe, soon after.
Mr. Bernhard loved being the “traveling sports dad” for his children’s gymnastics tournaments, taking them to Cedar Point, and making them one-of-a-kind birthday cakes, which he made it a point to do every year, even when his health was declining, she said.
When he returned home after a three-week stint in the hospital in May, Mr. Bernhard made his son Joe a double-layered chocolate Oreo ice cream cake for his 15th birthday just two days later, she said.
“He would create a Thomas the Train display or a Strawberry Shortcake cake, whatever the kids were into, for their birthday,” Mrs. Bernhard said. “Sometimes there had to be two cakes, because the first was just hideous. He made those birthday cakes, and everybody waited and watched what he was still putting together when people were coming in.”
He also loved to cook and bake for friends and family, Mrs. Bernhard said, always hosting his friends and family at their home as well as his wife’s friends.
“Oh my gosh, the man could cook,” she said. “We would just have food and people over. Then he started making wine. He never drank a drop of it but he wanted my friends and I to be able to get together, and that’s what he did. He just loved doing that stuff.”
Mrs. Bernhard said her husband stayed alive as long as he could to be there for his family.
“His oncologist said, ‘It’s your will to live that’s keeping you here,’” she recalled. “He says, ‘I’ve never had a patient ask me for stronger chemo.’ He just wanted to live for us.”
Mr. Bernhard is survived by his wife, Rachel Bernhard; daughter, Samantha Bernhard; son, Joe Bernhard; father, Larry Bernhard; mother, Cheryl Deitrich; brothers, Kevin Bernhard and Brent Bernhard; and sister, Tiffany Lowe.
Visitation will be held at Monclova Road Baptist Church at 7819 Monclova Rd. in Monclova from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, with a firefighter bell service starting at 7 p.m.
A firefighter’s funeral service will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the church.
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