John Henry Eldred Jr.

Biography

John Henry Eldred Jr. was an astute businessman with a sense of fairness and adventure who overcame a challenging childhood to become a compassionate and inspiring leader. Throughout his life John was faithful to people. Kind and generous, he was always willing to give people a chance. 

John was born in Galion, OH on July 26, 1947, to John H. and Dorothy Louise (Kyler). The middle child, he, along with his sister Patricia (Fleenor) and brother Charles, lived in many places during his youth. Despite what were at times difficult circumstances, John believed that his childhood experiences shaped the man he became. While living in southern California in the 1960s, John met his first wife, Joyce Micochero. Joyce and John moved to Ohio in 1968. Together, John and Joyce had two sons, John Henry Eldred III and James Bradley Eldred.

John achieved his desire to be his own boss by opening his first video store, Sights & Sounds Home Video, on Laskey Rd. in 1983. When a friend suggested that he should sell the store's used movies to libraries, Midwest Tape was born. Over the course of the next 30 years, John and his business partner, Jeff Jankowski, built Midwest Tape into a successful international media distribution company specializing in serving more than 8,000 libraries.

The pair would go on to create Dreamscape Media, an award-winning publishing and media distribution company dedicated to producing audiobooks, video, and eBooks. They later launched hoopla Digital, which has become the leading all-in-one media service for public libraries offering eBooks, audiobooks, movies, music, comics, and television to millions of library patrons.

In 1999, John married Margaret (Gray) Eldred, bringing her and her children Kate Marie (Krisjanis) Blake and Karlis Krisjanis into his family. At the time of his death, John was the proud grandfather to seven children.

As John’s business success increased, he founded the Dorothy Louise Kyler Foundation. Named for his mother, and in honor of their shared love of reading, the foundation made grants to low-income rural libraries across America for the purpose of adding new materials to children’s collections. In time, John directed the foundation to expand its grant-making to support Toledo-area non-profits that he believed could improve the lives of local families. He was particularly supportive of efforts to ensure food security, housing stability, support for veterans, and education attainment for low-income youth.

John died on May 27, 2021. It was John’s wish that the majority of his wealth be directed through his foundation to continue to support and serve public libraries and his community.

Although John was very private during his lifetime, often giving anonymously, at the first meeting after John’s death, the board unanimously voted to rename the foundation as the John Henry Eldred Jr. Foundation to honor his legacy.