Richard William Friedman

January 19th, 1932 - January 30th, 2026

Memorial

Mementos

Loved Ones

Richard William Friedman was born on January 19, 1932 in Mansfield, Ohio to Samuel and Ruth (Tolar) Friedman. They and his 5-year older sister Patricia soon moved to Chicago's Austin neighborhood where the family settled down.

The Great Depression made life difficult for everyone, and the Friedmans got by with modest means. Samuel was fortunate to secure a factory job and Ruth worked hard caring for the home and children and renting out a room.

Youth

Richard's young life was greatly influenced by the social environment provided by the Zion Evangelical Free Church next door. Pastor George Skoda and the friends he made there had a lifelong positive impact; he kept in touch with most of those friends all throughout his life. Hay rides, canoeing trips, softball and table tennis games, and singing to a guitar took the place of movies, dancing and card games, all of which were seen as sinful by the church.

Richard attended Lane Tech High School on Chicago’s north side and studied printing press technology. Richard also worked part-time jobs at this time to help his family make ends meet. But an accident while riding a bus did significant damage to Richard's arm and kept him from joining the military during WWII and beyond.

After high school, Richard took accounting courses at Wright Junior College. This training set him on the course for his life’s work.

Marriage and Family

Richard married two times.

He had two daughters, Heidi and Alison, with first wife, Alvern. The family began life in the Chicago area, but moved to Florida when Richard's job sent him to their Dania location. In Chicago, the house was always full of family and friends and nursing students without family, and Richard would always be there for Sunday dinner. Life in Florida brought new challenges: building a house, new jobs and making new friends. Ultimately Richard missed Chicago and would move back 3 years later.

Finally, he met his wife, Jeri, at a doctor appointment in the mid-'80s. They married and moved to a condo in Indian Head Park outside Chicago, where they stayed until 1995.

Work Life

Richard had a number of jobs; these were some of his workplaces:

Fort Lock (3000 N. River Road in River Grove)
Humphrey's Leather Goods (2009 W Hastings St, Chicago)
Gulfstream Lumber (S. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach)
International Great Lakes Shipping (Chicago then moved him to Florida)
Parisian Novelty (3510 S. Western Avenue in Chicago) where he retired in 1995.

Retirement

Tallahassee

Richard and Jeri moved to Tallahassee, Florida when he retired in 1995. He soon grew bored with retired life and took a part-time job as a Kelly Girl, working counting cars on a road, stocking shelves at grocery stores, even helping to build a playground.

He loved the quieter country atmosphere there and really enjoyed the music programs put on by Florida State University.

Stuart

In 1999, the couple moved to Stuart, Florida to be closer to Richard's daughters. Richard got on the board of his Mariner Village HOA and did landscape beautification projects around the development. He also worked doing maintenance for the Oceana North 1 condominium tower on Hutchinson Island, and watched units for snowbirds while they were away.

Port St Lucie

In 2003, Richard and Jeri moved 20 miles north to the town of Port St. Lucie. Richard volunteered with the Port St Lucie Police Department for several years, then with Martin (now Cleveland Clinic) Hospital in Tradition. He remained in Port St. Lucie for the rest of his life.

Last Months

In the summer of 2025, Richard was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic lung cancer. He pursued radiation and immunotherapy and did well through the end of the year, but January brought a host of issues. We were fortunate to get him into a wonderful hospice program, and he passed peacefully with family by his side on January 30. We all greatly miss him and his larger-than-life personality.

Tributes

Share a favorite memory, send condolences, and honor Richard’s life with a heartfelt message.

Norman Weinberg

As I approach the latter years of life, I reflect on the many friendships I’ve had. None has been as meaningful as the one I had with Richard Friedman. Richard and I worked at Parisian Novelty for over 20 years. I was the general manager and son-in-law in this small, family-owned business. Richard was the controller and office manager. He approached his responsibilities with a certain zeal, but he didn’t stop there. He also took a genuine interest in production, fabrication, and maintenance. Richard cared about every facet of the business. In 1981, one of our customers required that we send a weekly inventory of in-stock items via the then-emerging internet. Richard and I had no computer experience. We went out and bought one of the first IBM personal comp[uters. That first weekend, we worked Saturday and Sunday inputting over 3,000 items. When we came in the following Monday, we discovered that our work had not been properly coded and had not been saved. Richard didn’t despair. He dug right in and began reentering the data. Through his persistence and determination, we satisfied our customer’s requirements. That was Richard — he never gave up when something needed to be done. During Richard’s years at Parisian Novelty, through his efforts and those of our management team, we experienced some of our most profitable years. Years later, after his retirement, Richard told me how appreciative he was of the profit-sharing allocation he had received. It meant a great deal to him, and it meant a great deal to me to know he felt valued. In our daily conversations, we talked about much more than work. Richard loved his annual fishing trip to northern Minnesota. He enjoyed reading mysteries and thriller novels. We shared our likes and dislikes and often exchanged books. Richard spoke of his two daughters with great pride. At one point, I mentioned that I felt I was gaining too much weight. Richard immediately seized the opportunity and created a competition to see which of us could lose the most weight in a month. As a novice, I lost — later learning that Richard had fasted the last two days before our weigh-in. To keep the weight off, Richard and I began playing racquetball. For a while, we played one-on-one very competitively. As we aged and our knees began to give out, we became partners in a league at the racquet club instead. Two other memories that stand out. After Richard met Jeri he could not understand why someone so pretty and classy could fall for him. And he spoke with great pride and pleasure of the two new sons that were added to his family. Lastly, I will never forget the day in 1995 that Richard came to me and said he was retiring, that he and Jeri were moving to Florida. I was very surprised, I thought that Richard was only four or five years older than I was, and that retirement was somewhere in the future. At that point, Richard informed me that he lied on his employment application and was actually nine years older that indicated. I never would have guessed based on his energy and enthusiasm. In all these memories, what stands out most is Richard’s steady determination, quiet humor, and deep sense of loyalty. Whether he was reentering thousands of inventory items without complaint, finding a way to win a weight-loss challenge, or stepping onto the racquetball court with competitive fire, he gave his full effort. He was more than a colleague; he was a true friend who shared in the everyday moments that, over time, become life’s most meaningful ones. I will always be grateful for the years we worked side by side and for the friendship we built. I will miss him dearly, but I will carry those memories — and the lessons he taught by example — with me for the rest of my life.

Published March 2nd, 2026

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