Eugene “Gene” Buehler was the kind of executive who knew all his employees’ names and was willing to pitch in and help bag groceries.Mr. Buehler, 82, died Tuesday at his Wooster home.His son, Dan, said his father never really retired from the grocery business. “He was still in our office twice a week and he’d talk to all of us,” his son said. “He was always around. He was still interested in what they did in the stores.”Many employees came up and offered Dan Buehler condolences when he stopped at one of the company’s 13 stores. Most stores stress cleanliness and customer service, but Dan Buehler said his father went beyond that and found a way to solve multiple problems with one idea.Carts can be a problem for customers. When they are left in the parking lot, they can bump into cars. When it snows, they come into the store wet and drip on the floors.Mr. Buehler went to Minnesota to inspect a store with a novel idea: a conveyer belt that carried bags to a covered area where employees put them into shoppers’ cars. Customers never got out to load their vehicles; the carts never left the store.Buehler’s stores still feature that concept.Dan Buehler said it was that kind of principle that resulted in employees looking up and finding the corporate boss next to them bagging groceries.“As far as employees are concerned, they really did respect him because he always said he thinks it’s important that we know everyone’s name,” Dan Buehler said.Born in New Philadelphia in 1929, Eugene Buehler moved with his parents Ed and Helen Buehler to Wooster in 1932. He graduated from Wooster High School and attended Bowling Green State University, where he met his wife, Joan Marie Elmore. They were married 61 years.In addition to his wife and son Dan and daughter-in-law Lynn of Wooster, he is survived by children Cindy (Jim) Webster of Orrville, Linda (Rick) Lowe of Wooster, Lorie (Jim) Fishburn of Wooster and Scott (Mona) Buehler of Wooster; and 15 grandchildren.A public memorial will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at Trinity United Church of Christ, 150 E. North St., Wooster. The family suggests donations to Hospice & Palliative Care of Greater Wayne County, 2525 Back Orrville Road, Wooster, 44691 or to Wooster Rotary Foundation, 505 N. Market St., Wooster, 44691.