Richard Jon Coble

on August 17, 1946, in Pasadena, California, to Roy and Ruth Coble, Rick was an

unforgettable person. He was creative, brilliant, and passionate about many things--

sailing, construction, helping others, fighting for the rights of the downtrodden, and his

family. His motto was, “Doing the right thing is always the right thing. "Growing up in

Newport Beach, CA, he learned to sail at an early age and became a Sea Scout,

reaching the highest rank of Quartermaster (equivalent to an Eagle Scout). After

graduating from Newport Harbor High School, he attended California Polytechnic

University--Pomona, where he participated in the sailing club and also played goalie on

the water polo team. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, Rick

worked in his father’s construction business in southern California until an opportunity

arose to work on the initial construction of Walt Disney World in Orlando. Rick moved to

Orlando in 1971 and worked on numerous WDW projects, including Fort Wilderness,

the WDW main entrance and the Monorail station. In 1976, he started his own

construction company, Kaco Construction, and worked on the Circus World theme park,

doing all of the site work and underground construction and constructing all of the

buildings (and even burying an elephant). Kaco also worked on several Epcot pavilions

(China, France, Japan, Norway and Horizons) as well as all of the hardscape for Epcot.

While running his own construction company, he earned his master’s degree in building

construction at the University of Florida. In addition, his company completed projects for

the Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Navy in Hawaii, Key West and Tampa. His

company also completed the streetscape project in downtown Orlando on Orange

Avenue and around Lake Eola as well as water system and pipeline projects in Iraq,

Colorado and New Jersey. In the 1980’s Rick became a consultant to several surety

companies, helping to complete projects after the original contractor defaulted. One of

Rick’s crowning achievements was completing a portion of Interstate 40 in North

Carolina during the winter. Rick approached his consulting work as he did everything

else in life--with great passion and enthusiasm. His novel and creative methods in

dealing with construction claims confounded his opponents and helped him achieve

success for his clients. In 1992, Rick was the first person to receive a Ph.D. from the

University of Florida College of Architecture. He became a professor in the UF Building

Construction School, where he taught for 12 years and was named “teacher of the

year.” He was editor of 12 books and reports, author or co-author for 78 publications

and gave numerous talks and presentations to academic groups all over the world. He

was a visiting professor at the University of Salford in Manchester, UK and at Tsinghua

University, Beijing, China. In addition to sailing, Rick enjoyed running and skiing in his

younger days. He loved to travel and visited many parts of the world, including

Mongolia, South America, China, Hong Kong, Australia, the Middle East and Europe.

Everywhere he went, his gregarious personality allowed him to meet new friends. He

loved hosting parties--the bigger the better. He loved all sports and was an avid Gator

fan, collecting all sorts of Gator memorabilia. His house was decorated with Gator

statues, plaques and posters. Rick was passionate about his five children. He rarely

missed one of their sporting events or other activities and encouraged them in all of

their endeavors. Not only did he support his own children, he also supported and

encouraged numerous other children and adults throughout his life. A very generous

man, who supported churches and other ministries and the YMCA as well as individuals

he met who needed help, Rick was a committed Christian who spent a great deal of

time in Bible study. Rick is survived by his two brothers, Robert and Russell Coble, and

five children, Tyson Coble, Brent Coble (Sonia), Justin Coble (Debbie), Kristin Coble

Hiltzheimer (Ben) and Lacey Harris-Coble and eight grandchildren (Maya, Tec, Sid,

Caleb, Kai, Kellen, Isabelle and Gabrielle).Rick often said that, “the only thing we leave

behind is what we leave in others.” Throughout his life, he encouraged and supported

many people in many different ways. He touched many lives all over the world and he

lives on in the memories of those whom he met.

There will be a memorial service at the Downtown Baptist Church 120 East Pine Street,

Orlando, FL 32801 on Saturday, September 19, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. with a reception to

follow. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Rick’s name to the Central

FloridaYMCA or to the Downtown Baptist Church.