Jefferson County Rescue Mission co-founder Michael A. Sardo never met a stranger.
His wife, Louise, said it didn’t matter where Mr. Sardo was or what they were doing, he would find someone to strike up a conversation with.
“Sometimes he would talk and talk to people, and I would ask, ‘Who is that?’ He would say, ‘I don’t know, but he was nice,’” Louise said.
Mr. Sardo’s outgoing personality was one of the many qualities Louise remembers about her husband, who died Nov. 28, 2017, at 85. The couple, who moved to Jefferson County from New York City, was married for 58 years.
Mr. Sardo’s outgoing personality helped the couple found and run the Rescue Mission, 8943 Commercial Blvd., in Pevely.
The mission began out of their home in 1978, when Mr. Sardo, who was working at a Rhodes Furniture store at the time, brought home the couple’s first client, Louise said.
“One day he met an alcoholic man on a park bench during his lunch hour,” she said. “He felt sorry for him. It was the craziest thing I think that we ever did. He brought the man home.”
The Sardos let the man use their shower, got clothes for him and fed him, Louise said. They then helped him settle into a place in Warsaw that helped the homeless.
“That was the first person we helped,” said Louise, who is legally blind. “We realized we couldn’t do this out of our home. With three young boys and myself, it was not good.”
In 1981, the couple established their mission in a Herculaneum storefront property before moving to the current Pevely location in 1993.
The Jefferson County Rescue Mission provides free food baskets, basic clothing and small appliances to those in need. It also serves as an “operation weather survival” site, providing a cool or warm place for those who need it, as well as a soup kitchen.
The mission used to provide overnight shelter for men at least 21 years old, but it had to end that service. It does provide men in need with referrals to agencies that provide services that the Rescue Mission cannot.
Initially it wasn’t easy to convince Pevely officials to allow the mission to open in the city, but Louise said Mr. Sardo arranged for media coverage and brought in people to give testimonials about what the mission did to help people in need.
“After several meetings, they agreed to let us open,” Louise said.
Mr. Sardo, who left his job at Rhodes about six years after the mission was founded, served as the organization’s president and was one of its top fundraisers.
“He never took no from people,” Louise said. “He wasn’t rude, but he was persistent. He was a salesman, and he knew how to get his point across.”
And when he got a donation, Louise said, Mr. Sardo always made sure a thank-you note would follow.
Those who volunteer at the mission said they admired Mr. Sardo’s jovial nature.
“Mike was young at heart, and he was very passionate about his mission,” said Sherry Shanks, who has volunteered at the mission since 2011.
He also was well known for his generosity with candy. Louise said he had a file drawer full of candy in his office, and he would bring pieces down to share with kids and the volunteers.
“He would say I’m saving it for the kids; it’s my stash,” Louise said. “He was like the candy man.”
Mr. Sardo also was passionate about writing, classical music and his family.
He wrote several books of poetry, two science-fiction novels and a book of essays. One of the works he was most proud of was “Code 066,” a novel published in 2012 about a 70-year-old man searching for a Nazi who had been in hiding since the end of World War II.
A copy of the book is in the Yad Vashem Jewish Holocaust Center’s library in Jerusalem, Louise said.
Darryl Clayman, who met the Sardos when he came to volunteer at the mission three years ago, bonded with Mr. Sardo over their shared interest in Jewish history and the Holocaust. Clayman is also from New York and was raised Jewish, although he’s now a Christian.
Clayman said Mr. Sardo told him a story about when he was young and heard a radio report about a concentration camp that got a delivery of bread and the Jewish prisoners rushed the truck. When the Nazi overseeing the camp found out about the incident, he had the prisoners’ hands cut off.
“That stuck with Michael,” Clayman said.
Clayman helped Mr. Sardo promote his book, which led to Mr. Sardo meeting Mendel Rosenberg, a Holocaust survivor, at the St. Louis Holocaust Museum.
Clayman said his relationship with Mr. Sardo grew beyond the work at the mission and promoting the book, and Clayman considered Mr. Sardo his best friend.
“He is the most loving, kind hearted, true, unconditional friend that I have ever known in my life,” Clayman said.
Mr. Sardo helped pass on his love of classical music to one of his grandchildren, Joe Sardo Jr., who went on to become a violin player and sang with the St. Louis Youth Symphony at Powell Symphony Hall, Louise said.
“That was one of the proudest days in grandpa’s life to see his grandson up there singing with all of them,” she said.
She said Mr. Sardo found always found ways to connect with his children and grandchildren, and really, everyone he met.
“Mike just loved people,” Louise said. “He reached out to everybody and anybody no matter where we were or the circumstances. He was friendly with everybody.”