By Jenny Callison
Enquirer contributor

FAIRFIELD - Although Sam Boymel entered the elder care industry by chance, it is now his endeavor of choice. Over the course of 36 years, Mr. Boymel has approached his burgeoning network of centers with the same drive, tenacity and insight that helped him survive as a post-Holocaust refugee in Cincinnati.

"There are a lot of national chains in this business, and they operate on a corporate basis," said Richard J. Barasch, administrator of Fairfield Pavilion, Mr. Boymel's newest enterprise. "Our owner is here every day; he walks the halls and helps out his staff."

It's perhaps indicative of Mr. Boymel's philosophy that he has formed no company to manage the six homes he owns. He remains directly responsible and directly involved.

"A good name and good credit you can't buy for money," Mr. Boymel said.

NETWORK OF CARE

The nature of retirement living has changed dramatically since Sam Boymel purchased a foundering facility in 1966. Choice and comfort are now hallmarks, regardless of whether one is a candidate for nursing care or simply tired of mowing the lawn and shoveling snow.     Mr. Boymel's newest facility, Fairfield Pavilion, offers many services to its residents. There's a full-service dining room, a social hall, an Internet lounge, a branch bank and a beauty parlor.     Residents can get a medical exam on site and choose from a variety of activities. The design of all 104 units accommodates increased levels of care. Everything, of course, is universally accessible.     "We pretty much ask people, 'What do you want?' and we put something together for them," said administrator Richard J. Barasch. "People can pay month-to-month, and if they don't like it, they can leave."     Sam Boymel's other centers are Garden Manor Extended Care Center in Middletown, Tri-County Extended Care Center in Fairfield, Oak Creek Terrace in Kettering, The Lodge Care Center in Loveland and Western Hills Retirement Village in Delhi Township.     Information: 829-8100.

That and other principles guiding his daily actions were imparted to him as a boy by his mother, before she and his other immediate family died in Nazi concentration camps. Mr. Boymel, who entered a camp in 1939 at the age of 13, was liberated by the Allies in 1945.

He lived in a refugee camp until 1949, when the U.S. agreed to admit 240,000 displaced persons.

Mr. Boymel arrived in Cincinnati with a wife and child and $7 in his pocket, the gift of American soldiers. He knew no English.

"I didn't even know where Cincinnati was," he said. "My wife and I were two young kids with nobody to ask for advice."

But the immigrant was determined not to ask for government assistance. Instead, he walked the streets of Cincinnati's Jewish community, lobbying for a job that would pay enough to support his family. He found one, pickling meat in a kosher salami factory for $28 per week.

"They looked down on you because you were a refugee," recalled Mr. Boymel.

Several years later his boss rebuffed his request for a raise, and Mr. Boymel decided to start his own meat business. It was the first in a long career of calculated business risks.

The $300 deposit on the Roselawn storefront came mostly from the Boymels' savings, stowed in their mattress.

"I got the equipment from an IGA store. It was free then; I paid for it later. I bought my meat on credit, and I got a discount," Mr. Boymel said. "It was not easy."

More than a decade later a banker acquaintance encouraged him to purchase a failing Middletown nursing home that was up for auction.

Garden Manor, which sat on 25 acres, was down to 11 patients and one nurse. Its water and sewer services had been disconnected for nonpayment of bills. The nurse fed patients with whatever groceries she could buy on credit.

In March 1966, Mr. Boymel paid $125,000 for the property when a higher bidder couldn't produce the down payment. He paid off all the debts and put his wife to work as Garden Manor's cook and janitor. By day, he served customers at his meat store; every evening he drove to Middletown to help at the nursing home.

The Boymels gradually brought the facility up to standard so it could regain its license.

"By June we had 41 patients," he said. "Went to the bank and told them I wanted to build 100 beds. They gave me $1 million. After I built those 100 beds, I built another 100 beds."

The next project was building Tri-County Extended Care Center in Fairfield. After that, Mr. Boymel converted a former school building in Kettering, Ohio, into a retirement community, donating the old school playground to the city for use as a park.

In Delhi Township, he purchased land for a retirement complex adjoining a country club and then survived a well-organized local effort to block the necessary zoning changes.

When Mr. Boymel decided to add 150 assisted living units at Garden Manor in the 1980s, he was told that nobody would understand the concept, and the project would fail.

Time has proven how well he understood the future of the retirement industry.

Barely two decades later, Mr. Boymel has opened Fairfield Pavilion, which integrates independent living and assisted living under the same roof. Each apartment unit is designed to accommodate a range of needs, and those needing further care find it in the updated Tri-County building next door.

Each of his projects has required faith and determination, but Mr. Boymel says that it's his concern for people that motivates him.

"It's not the money, believe me," he said. "I enjoy the people. I take care of my people. I started bonuses; nobody knew anything about bonuses in this industry. I know my employees and I remember from where I come."

Said Mr. Barasch: "I think one thing he's so good at is relationship building. He has very good instincts."

"Sam Boymel is an important part of Fairfield's - and Cincinnati's - heritage," said Art Pizzano, Fairfield city manager.

"Of course, he's superbly entrepreneurial, but he's also a very classy human being. He's adroit at assembling a professional team and instills in them an attitude of caring that one does not always see in the entrepreneurial side.

"That, to me, is a distinguishing feature of his leadership style."

E-mail jcallison@cinci.rr.com