Richard Earl Fox

Richard E. Fox passed away peacefully on June 6, 2021, after a long battle with Alzheimers’s Disease. He was born on July 2, 1931 to Joseph and Ruth (nee Walburg) Fox, and grew up on Viola Avenue in North Dayton. After completing grade school at Corpus Christi, he attended Chaminade High School, graduating in 1949. Richard went on to the University of Dayton, where he completed a degree in Biology in 1953. He was drafted into the Army, and after two years of service, returned to Dayton to marry Marilyn Burris in 1955. In 1956, Richard received his Master’s degree in Education from Boston College.

Richard worked for many years as a research chemist at NCR in Dayton, and later for Appleton Papers. In the 1970s, he took up a new career as a computer programmer and worked until retirement at Reynolds + Reynolds in Dayton, sometimes commuting to work by bicycle from his Harrison Township home. After his retirement in 1996, Richard and Marilyn took to the road for a number of memorable camping trips, traversing the Michigan shore of Lake Huron, and camping in the Florida keys. He neatly packed an impossible amount of equipment into their little Volkswagon Golf for their trips; not a cubic inch was wasted. The couple also traveled to Europe and visited the Shrine of Our Lady at Medjugorje, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and they still talked fondly of it many years later.

Richard and Marilyn moved to a house in the St. Leonard Retirement community in 2000. After 59 years of marriage, Marilyn died in 2014.

Richard was a quiet man, with a strong faith in God. He was active over the years in the St Vincent DePaul Society and a number of other organizations. He will always be fondly remembered by his family for his wry sense of humor and ‘Dad jokes.’

Richard was preceded in death by brothers Joseph, Jim, and John, and sister Ada Marie (Sister Michael, OCD).

Richard lives on in the memories of his children Mike, Kathy (Amery), Bob (Jenny), Teresa (Pat) Marrinan, and Chris (Wanda), along with eight grandchildren, and three great- grandchildren, and his brothers Ken and Larry.

Due to Covid, there will be no public services. In lieu of flowers, Richard requested that donations be made to the Benevolent Care Fund at St. Leonard Retirement Community.