Richard “Dick” Brinkman Olerich, a longtime resident of Glendora, passed away on October 17th, surrounded by family.  Born in Oswego, NY to Nan Cavellier and Byron Allen Olerich, he was the eldest of six children. Richard moved to the Chicago area as a baby, attended Immaculate Conception grade school and graduated from York High School in Elmhurst, IL, where he met his late wife, Patricia Olerich. He obtained a B.S. in Engineering in 1959 from Purdue University where he was a frat brother of fellow E.E., astronaut Gene Cernan, in the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity.

Richard worked in the printing industry for many years, starting with co-owning his small web press shop, Uniweb, in Elmhurst, with lifelong friend and business partner, Robert Fokos, of Martha’s Vineyard, and later holding executive positions at Butler Automatic and Harris Printing on the east coast, World Color Press in Effingham, IL and Merced, CA and Treasure Chest Advertising Co. in Glendora. Richard was a “hands on” leader, frequently walking around the plant floors to talk to workers and keep tabs on the problems they encountered. He loved everything mechanical and could fix just about anything. He was known for sketching out his ideas & “inventions” on restaurant napkins and paper placements and when his kids were young, all the neighbor kids would bring over their broken bikes, skateboards, toys (and later, cars) for Richard to fix. He loved riding anything motorized, and used to race motocycles, tour in antique auto club events, and even took first place in the cross-country “Great American Race” in a vintage ’31 Harley Davidson side-car! He spent many hours in his workshop, reconstructing parts for his collection of vehicles and he so enjoyed talking to his fellow antique car buffs at many Horseless Carriage Club events around L.A. - trading stories about engines or steam car maintenance. We will miss Richard terribly, but are honored to have known him and hope to carry on his generous spirit and zest for life.

Richard is survived by his siblings Suzanne (Dan) Newby of Sharon Heights, Barbara Sylvester of Soquel, David (Jill) Olerich of Galice, Oregon, Carol (James) Simpson of Palo Alto, Alan of Soquel, in-laws Nancy (Chuck) Rose, Tracy Seyller and sons Stephen of Glendora, Michael of San Jose, and daughter Corinne (Peter) Mehring of Los Altos, grandchildren Lauren and Nicole Olerich, Stephen Olerich, Collin and Morgan Mehring, great-grandson Stephen Olerich, and numerous nieces and nephews. Richard is predeceased by his wife, Patricia Ann Olerich, brothers-in-law Robert Anders and William Anders and his parents.

A Memorial service will be held November 14th at 11:00 am at Oakdale Memorial Park, Glendora. Family and friends are invited to a reception afterwards at Hamilton’s in Covina. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Alzheimer’s Foundation: http://www.alz.org