Darrell Lewis Reed

Darrell L. Reed was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan on September 9, 1944. He was the second of four children. He grew up in a town which was largely dependent on mining. Most of his interest was in basketball, football and “watching the Walgreen truck unload”. At Ishperming High School he was known as “Rocker Reed.” The name was given to him for his rocket arm playing quarterback for the Ishperming Hematites football team. After attending the University of Michigan, he headed west and began a very successful career ending with becoming the CFO for a fortune 500 corporation. He met his wife Phyllis as they sat opposite each other representing competing companies at a business negotiation. He would jokingly say that he got the short straw, being the one who had to remove Phyllis from the negotiating table, by marrying her. Of course everyone knows the real role that Phyllis played in Darrell’s life. Prior to his New York ventures he was the owner of a shipbuilding company which designed and built a state of the art air-cushioned vehicle which can be seen as you drive up the coast in Camp Pendleton. In addition to this vehicle being used by the marines, a similar one was designed for Dennis O’Connor of America’s Cup Fame. He was also active in the blind dog foundation and on the board of directors of the United Way in Long Island New York. His career brought him in contact with many famous people. The most notable was Neil Armstrong the first astronaut to walk on the moon. Neil, a very private person, shared many personal guarded secrets about his life to Darrell. They considered each other friends. His other interests were bridge (he was a life master), deep sea fishing, Texas Hold’em, football and his grandchildren. He took two years of his life, much to Phyllis’s frustration, to research and write a book about his ancestors and had it published. Turns out he is distantly related to Madonna. Family was very important to Darrell. If one of this grandsons were out on the football field, you would be hard pressed to find him anywhere else. He cherished his morning breakfasts with his sons, and spent most of his recent days joking with his daughter, reminiscing about when he was younger and the pranks he played on his co-workers. He began a new chapter in his life at retirement in 2003 when he built Carlsbad Country Day School a pre-school located in Carlsbad. This new venture resulted in the most successful and rewarding aspect of his life. He is beloved by the 200 children, parents and staff of this facility and will be greatly missed. He is survived by his eldest son Robert Reed of RD Reed Trucking, Timothy Reed of Sorrento Valley Chiropractic, Kimberly Reed, and Melissa Reed the Director of Carlsbad Country Day School. Darrell died after a short illness due to pancreatic cancer. Although he isn’t here in body with us, he will always be present in our hearts. Visitation will be held from 6-8 pm Wednesday August 26th, 2015 at El Camino Memorial - Sorrento Valley. Funeral Mass will be held August 26th at 10 am at Saint Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church. Memorial contributions may be made to ... Promises2Kids 9400 Ruffin Court, Suite A, San Diego, CA 92123 Phone: (858) 278-4400