Ronald E. Gould (1942-2016): Financial planner offered tips

March 24--Ronald E. Gould, 74, who kept track of his financial planning clients' needs yet readily spoke of investing trends and offered tips for a general audience, died Sunday in his Perrysburg Township home.

He learned in June, 2015, that he had pancreatic cancer, his wife, Joyce, said. He felt especially bad for his clients, his wife said, and shared the news with them.

"He cared so much for his clients," his wife said. "He was personal with them, close."

Mr. Gould, a certified financial planner, most recently was administrator of Gould Ruma Financial Advisors, a firm he formed in 2008 with Pete Ruma. Before that, he was principal for many years in Ron Gould and Associates.

He was known for being soft-spoken, which required others to listen intently, said Alan Sattler, son-in-law of Mr. Gould's wife. He in turn was a good listener.

"And in financial planning, if you don't listen effectively, you don't get a good understanding of your client's needs," Mr. Sattler said.

Mr. Gould was founding president of the Toledo chapter of the International Association for Financial Planning, as it was known then, served several terms, and was a former chairman of the board.

Over the years, he spoke with The Blade on how parents should save for their children's college education, how workers should prepare for retirement, and how couples should communicate about their finances.

"When I work with couples, what I find with the over-50 set is that one of them does all the finances and the other is totally unaware of what their finances are," Mr. Gould said in 2005. "A husband is not doing the wife a favor by not including her in the world of finance they live in."

Early in his career, he worked in the credit department at Sears and then at Western & Southern Life Insurance. He began his own firm in 1972 and became versatile -- offering insurance if clients needed it, but also securities and other products.

"He felt he could do more for the client, and he wanted to do it all," said his wife, who went to work for him as a secretary and later became a business partner. "He got into estate planning. He didn't like the idea of one product. It was better to have a variety."

He was born March 6, 1942, to Evelyn and Clark Gould. He grew up in East Toledo, cared for by his mother and stepfather, Mike McGee.

He was a graduate of the former Macomber Vocational High School and took flight instruction from Stanley Irons, a longtime Macomber teacher. He received a pilot's license and became active in the Civil Air Patrol.

He was an Air Force veteran and was stationed stateside and at Thule, Greenland. He didn't fly in the service, but continued to pilot airplanes for many years as a civilian.

He liked to travel, especially to such warm weather spots as Florida and Hawaii. He made a study of blackjack and said he had a system when he played, his wife recalled: "'I take so much money. When I go through that, I leave.'"

He was close to his grandchildren and was close to his wife's daughter from her first marriage, Lisa Sattler, and his wife's three grandsons. He'd also known his wife's first husband, Jerry, who died.

"When you start with a friendship, and that friendship goes back decades, you get to know people in a different context," Mr. Sattler said.

He was formerly married to Mary Marcum.

Surviving are his wife, Joyce Vascik Gould, whom he married Oct. 3, 2009; sons, Michael and Shawn Gould, and three grandchildren.

Memorial services will be at 11 a.m. today in the Witzler-Shank Funeral Home, Perrysburg, where the family will receive friends after 9 a.m.

The family suggests tributes to the United Service Organzation, or USO, in Washington.

Contact Mark Zaborney at: [email protected] or 419-724-6182.

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