Richard O. Spicer

Richard O. Spicer, , of Port Clinton, OH, passed away early Tuesday morning, March 27, 2012, after a spirited battle with cancer, surrounded by his loving family. Dick was born on August 26, 1938, in Detroit, MI to Olin E. and Grace M. Foy Spicer. On September 14, 2002, he married Deborah Ann Schaub and she survives. He earned his Bachelors degree from St. Joseph College IN and his MBA from Baldwin Wallace College OH. He attended both the Wharton School and the Un. of Michigan. He taught at the Community College level part-time. Dick was National Sales Manager 20 yrs for Radiometer America in Westlake, OH and worked in executive management for the Port Clinton Area Chamber of Commerce, as its President 10 yrs. He established the Port Clinton Chamber Foundation and Leadership Ottawa County, while at the Chamber. He loved boating and held a U. S. Coast Guard Captain License. Dick offered a charter service for a few years and took persons to Toledo, Detroit, Cleveland and the Islands. He traveled extensively, and for long periods of time, on the Great Lakes. Dick enjoyed searching his genealogy and ancestry of the Spicer & Foy name. The first American Spicer lived in Jamestown in 1618. Dick made numerous trips to his ancestral homeland in Ireland the Foy family name as well as several trips to Europe, including multiple visits to Spain, Denmark and England. He lectured both here and in California about the Native Americans of the Woodlands. The Great Lakes was a lecture topic he spoke to often and seemed to speak in pictures due to his love of the area. He consulted in the area of hiring the right people with over a dozen companies in Ohio and Michigan and was a substitute teacher in several local districts near his home in his retirement. His hobby, making quality cowhide belts, took him to many county fairs in Ohio. He used to say this is the real America, the real people, our backbone! He was a past member of the South Shore Cruising Club, Sandusky Yacht Club, CIC, the Elks Lodge #1718 and the US Power Squadron. He was on the Boards of the Northwest Ohio Hemophilia Foundation, Otterbein North Shore Retirement Community Exec. Board-Marketing and Black Swamp Bird Observatory Vice-Chair. His survivors include: Loving wife: Deborah A. Spicer; Sons: Brian Spicer, Columbus, OH and Steven H. Melanie Spicer; Broadview Hts, OH; Daughter: Julie M. Ricardo Goldman, Encinitas, CA; Step-Daughter: Tracy Jason Reiheld, Holmes County, OH; Sisters: Carol R. Cavlovic, Lake Forest, CA and Kathleen A. Spicer, Rochester Hills, MI; Seven Grandchildren and Five Step-Grandchildren. Dick was preceded in death by his parents and his brother and best friend, Dennis M. Spicer. Dennis died in Jan. 2008 at Lake Havasu City, AZ. Friends may call Thursday morning, March 29, 2012 from 9am until prayer service at 10am in the Gerner-Wolf-Walker Funeral Home & Crematory, followed by Mass of Christian Burial celebrated by Father John Missler, at10:30 am in Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Port Clinton, OH. Burial will follow in Catawba Island Cemetery. Friends and family will convene at Mon Ami Winery following the committal for a celebration of Dicks life. Memorial contributions can be made in the memory of Dick, through the Spicer family to the North Coast Cancer Foundation - Cleveland Clinic, 417 Quarry Lakes Dr., Sandusky, OH 44870, Immaculate Conception Church or Stein Hospice.Online condolences may be shared with the family at www.walkerfuneralhomes.com.