Ronald Ernest Fournier

Ronald Ernest Fournier, a beloved husband, father and grandfather who served 25 years on the Detroit Police Department and 16 years at St. John's Hospital, a towering and gentle man with a broad network of friends from southern Ontario to southern Florida, died Sunday night. He was 74. Fournier died of complications from Lewy Body Dementia. He was surrounded by family at a Grosse Pointe nursing home on Mack Avenue, a few miles from the beat he walked as a rookie cop. He is survived by his best friend and wife, Florence Fournier (ne Sharp). Childhood sweethearts, they grew up across the street from each other on Coram on Detroit's east side, wed in 1962 at nearby St. Jude's church, and raised four children in a house they bought on Coram. He died with no regrets. "I had a great wife," Fournier said in an interview last summer reflecting on marriage and fatherhood. "I had a great life with her." For as much as his size and strength intimidated strangers, those who knew Fournier recall mostly his humor. A hilariously quick-witted prankster, he once emerged from the bathroom of a northern Michigan bar with the end of a toilet-paper roll tucked inside his back pocket, then circled each table and barstool until the giggling patrons were tied together in Cottonelle. Then, as always, nobody laughed louder than Florence. "It's an amazing gig," Fournier said, "if you can entertain her." He also is survived by sons Ron Fournier (Lori), Tim Fournier (Ingrid) and Mike Fournier (Rose), and daughter Raquel; grandchildren, Holly (Tom Flickinger), Gabrielle, Tyler, Talea, Rebecca and Nick; brother, Bob and sister, Dorothy (Jim Neate). He is preceded in death by his parents, Victor James and Margaret Laura Fournier, and his sister, Margaret Patricia "Pat" Lane. Fournier loved being a cop, particularly his many years at the motorcycle division. The job required Fournier to keep his Harley Davidson at home, which meant a motorcycle ride for his young children when they waited for him at the corner of Coram and Hayes. One of his favorite assignments was directing traffic at Red Wings games. He often brought his kids to Olympia, where they got to know their father's hero, Gordie Howe. Years later, on a family visit to Traverse City, Fournier drove by Howe's house and saw the hockey legend cutting his own lawn. Fournier's wife and kids had to stop him from bolting out of the car to help "Mr. Howe." Fournier lived to help people, as a member of the U.S. Army military police in the early 1960s, as a police officer and security guard, and as a neighbor and friend. He habitually stopped to help distressed drivers. He quietly donated clothing and food to poor families on his beat. His favorite hobby was house repair on his friends' houses a chore best lubricated by Labatt Blue. His size and compassion made Fournier unforgettable, which might explain why he couldn't go anywhere without bumping into a friend, especially in Detroit, near his cottage in Harrow, Ont., or at retirement homes in North Fort Myer, Fla., and Grand Rapids, Mich. Fournier was a loving and proud father and grandfather. "Now I hear fathers saying that it's wrong to let your kids be your buddies," he said last year. "But (my kids) were my buddies. We had fun." He was a fiercely competitive handball and racquetball player until the final years of his life. As a young man in the mid-60s, the 6-foot-6-inch Fournier bulked up to more than 300 pounds to anchor the police department's tug-of-war team. Looking back on his life with pride and pleasure, Fournier chuckled, "I am lucky. I have nothing to be ashamed of. I can look at myself in the mirror. I had great fun." In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations made in Fournier's honor to the Lewy Body Dementia Association at www.lbda.org. A Memorial gathering will be held on Tuesday from 6:00 pm until 9:00 pm at A.H. Peters Funeral Home 20705 Mack Ave., at Vernier Rd., Grosse Pointe Woods. The American Legion will conduct a ritual at 7:00 pm. A Memorial Service will be held on Wednesday at 10:00 am at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, 21600 Greater Mack., St. Clair Shores. The Fournier family will receive guests at the Church at 9:30 am.

Funeral Home:

A. H. Peters Funeral Home of Grosse Pointe

20705 Mack Avenue

Grosse Pointe Woods, MI

US 48236