By Nicole Hamilton
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Dolle

William L. "Bill" Dolle Jr. made it his mission to provide jobs. At one time, his Lodge & Shipley Machine Tool Co. in Camp Washington employed about 300 people, and its products were distributed worldwide.

"He pursued all things with passions - things that were of interest to him, be it things in the community, his family, golfing or fishing. And he was committed to free enterprise and what drives free enterprise," said his son, Patrick O. Dolle of Mariemont.

Mr. Dolle died Wednesday at Deaconess Hospital of cancer. The East Walnut Hills resident and former longtime resident of Wyoming was 74.

Raised in College Hill, Mr. Dolle graduated from St. Xavier High School in Finneytown and continued his education at Georgetown University, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in economics in 1950.

He returned briefly to Cincinnati and worked in the family business - Lodge & Shipley - before serving in the Air Force in the Korean War, where he flew F94s.

Honorably discharged in 1955, he returned to Cincinnati and to the machine company.

Lodge & Shipley was established in 1893 by Mr. Dolle's great-grandfather. Mr. Dolle worked in sales management for the company until 1965, when he was made chief executive officer.

Under his direction, the company enjoyed some of its strongest years. Hundreds of its lathes - a machine that shapes metal - were sold to major jet engine manufacturers for the production of jet engines.

Passion about the machine tool industry and its demise compelled Mr. Dolle to write a book, Pearl Harbor Springs, about the changing face of the industry.

After the sale of the company in 1987, he worked as a management consultant and spent five years as an executive in residence at Xavier University's business school, where he was a frequent guest lecturer in the MBA program.

He was also president of Cumberland Mineral Lands Co. in Kentucky until his death.

Mr. Dolle was a member of the Cincinnati President's Organization, past chapter chairman of the Young President's Organization, past chairman of the Employers Association. He was former director of the Association of Manufacturing Technology and past president of the American Tool Export Association.

He was a longtime member of the Wyoming Golf Club and was a member of Harbor Point Golf Club in Harbor Springs, Mich., where he had spent his summers since childhood.

A son, Mark, died in 1997.

In addition to his son Patrick, survivors include his wife of 50years, Patricia of East Walnut Hills; four sons, Peter of Berlin, Germany, Stephen of Newport Beach, Calif., Christopher of Wyoming, and William "Trey" III of Hyde Park; a daughter, Elizabeth Dolle Johnson of New Orleans; three sisters, Nancy Busch of Hinsdale, Ill., Madeline Castellini of Mount Lookout and Betsy Rohs of Springfield, Ill.; and 15 grandchildren.

A Mass of Christian burial will be 1 p.m. Monday , at St. Rose Church, 2501 Eastern Ave., Columbia-Tusculum.

Burial will be in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Montgomery.

Memorials: American Cancer Society, 11117 Kenwood Road, Cincinnati 45242.

E-mail nhamilton@enquirer.com