From Shoemakers & Sellers to Hanging a Shingle by Mike Bruno

The law business of the 21st century is evolving. AI will change the practice even more. The early 20th Century was different. The Industrial Revolution had occurred. World War I devastated Europe. Immigrants were assimilated. A particular occupation at the time was the shoe business.

The connection between the Toledo shoe stores of the early 20th Century and the legal profession of the late 20th century and beyond, makes for an interesting story.

My grandfather, Liborio, an Italian immigrant, had a shoe store on Collingwood, near Rosary Cathedral. My dad, Dominic, helped him on weekends. I’m told my grandpa, who went to school through 6th grade, was cerebral, often talking politics with his customers.

Liborio died in 1955 at the age of 63. I was born two years later. My dad had zero interest in the shoe business, choosing instead to go to law school and become a lawyer. I followed my dad’s lead and went to law school.

Jim Nooney had a similar upbringing before beginning a brilliant career at Eastman & Smith. Both his father, Robert, and grandfather, Roy, were shoemakers. Roy was known as the “Singing Shoemaker.” Growing up, Jim Nooney worked Saturdays at his dad’s shoe shop on North Erie Street, downtown. Nooney Shoe Repair also had branches in Point Place and the Colony. Jim Nooney also chose law as a career, instead of carrying on the family business. He jokes that he always had somewhere to go if the law business didn’t work out.

Toby Pizza came to the U.S. from Italy in 1898. He later brought his father and four brothers with him to Toledo. The Pizzas were involved in shoe distribution. Their territory ran from Sandusky to Bryan, and south to Lima, Ohio. George Pizza, a brother, ran their shoe store on Cherry Street. George’s son Frank found fame on the Gridiron and the law. He served as Toledo’s Law Director for many years before joining Spengler Nathanson as a partner. George’s granddaughter, Lisa, has been practicing at Spengler Nathanson for over 40 years. Toby’s son Tony Pizza was
another who declined to continue the shoe trade. Like cousins Frank and Lisa, he chose the law and
served as Lucas County Prosecutor for many years.

George Gusses chose law because he wanted to be the next Perry Mason. He was well on his way to that goal after securing acquittals in his first two jury trials. The third one didn’t end as well; his client was sent to prison. George didn’t have the stomach for that. Instead, he found collection work and has no plans to retire after practicing for over 50 years.

I asked George where the work ethic came from. He was quick to answer. In the law, it was Harold Scheer, who hired George and trained him in collections. Earlier than that, George was influenced and learned a strong work ethic from his father Assad, who operated a shoe store on Erie Street in the North End for many years before moving it to Maumee until his passing in 1974. George recalls his dad being at the shop 6 days a week.

Unlike Jim Nooney and my dad, George was not typically at the shoe store on Saturdays growing up. Well, there was one occasion in the early 1970s. George’s parents planned a weekend trip to West Virginia to visit family. Assad asked George to keep an eye on the shoe shop on the Saturday they were gone. So, George hung out and things were going smoothly, until a patron entered the shop in need of a shoeshine. George explained that his father was away, and the shine would have to wait until his father returned. The customer insisted on the shine. So, George went to work. The man entered the store with white socks under black shoes and left with shiny black shoes and black socks. Another Black Sox scandal!

History has not been kind to small shoe shops in Toledo. Pasquale and Sons on Upton is the last of its kind. We can, however, be thankful for what came out of the Toledo Shoe Shops of the early 20th Century: a group of excellent lawyers who are good people.