Richard Dean Gallagher, known to his family and friends as Dick Gallagher, 91, of Ventura, California, passed away peacefully on the morning of September 19th in Ventura, California after a battle with dementia. Richard was born in Kansas City, Kansas, to Emmett Newton Gallagher and Jewel Juanita Williams Gallagher on December 31, 1932. He attended grade school in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but found some of the happiest times in his life during Junior High School in Lone Pine, California, where his father had been sent to work at China Lake during World War II. Some of his closest and dearest lifelong friends were from Lone Pine and he visited Lone Pine as often as possible throughout his entire life. His family eventually settled in Huntington Park, and he graduated from Bell High School in 1951. He attended UCLA and was a proud member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. After attending UCLA for two years, he was drafted into the army in 1953, and served in the Korean War at Johnson Airbase in Japan as a meteorologist, sending weather balloons up to measure wind currents for artillery emplacements. He traveled extensively around the world after the war, then returned to the United States to earn a degree in Business Administration from the University of Tulsa.
After college, he was hired by the Dean Witter stock brokerage firm in Los Angeles. Richard took his position with Dean Witter in Ventura and spent the next 44 years with them, and subsequently Morgan Stanley, retiring on his 70th birthday in 2002. He became interested in investments after visiting the Tokyo Stock Exchange while stationed in Japan during the Korean War. He always enjoyed interacting with people and chatting with clients and friends. He often said dealing with people was one of the pleasures of working in his profession. He was proud of his professional life, the advice he gave, always honest and straightforward, wanting to help people manage their investments.
He met his wife Mary Silva, a native of Oxnard, in Ventura and they married in 1962. They were married at Santa Clara Catholic Church in Oxnard and raised one daughter together. They enjoyed being members of, and participating in, many community fundraisers and Ventura County social events. They were married over 63 years.
Richard became a licensed pilot in 1968 and spent time flying friends and family domestically and internationally. He enjoyed being a member of a flying club based at the Santa Paula Airport. He also was a licensed scuba diver, often diving out of Ventura Harbor. He loved bicycle riding in Carpinteria and you could find him regularly swimming laps at the Ondulando Club. He enjoyed fishing in Canada and Idaho, pheasant hunting in Kansas, and dove hunting in Arizona. Richard was a member of Rotary for almost 45 years. He became a member of the Rotary Club of Ventura - East in 1980 and enjoyed the community service and camaraderie that he found in Rotary.
He was best known for his love of jokes and story telling. He never missed an opportunity to share his latest joke, play a prank, or tell a funny story. He was a devoted fan of college and pro football, especially the UCLA Bruins football. He loved to travel to Canada and Idaho, and delighted in spending summers in Germany and Austria. He will be dearly missed by his sisters, whom he spoke to almost daily throughout his life.
Richard is survived by his wife, Mary S. Gallagher of Ventura, daughter Gwen Gallagher Taylor, her husband Robert Taylor, and three grandchildren, Alexandra, Richard "Brooks", and Camille Taylor of San Mateo. He is also survived by two older sisters, a younger brother, and many nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Rotary Club of Ventura.
Family and friends are invited to visiting hours to be held on Saturday, October 26, 2024, from 9:00 to 10:00am in the JOSEPH P. REARDON FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICE, 757 E. Main Street, Ventura, where funeral service will be held in the chapel of the Funeral Home at 10:00am. Interment will then follow in Santa Clara Catholic Cemetery, Oxnard.