Hog farmer backed high school athletics

9/29/2003

CAMDEN, Mich.- Richard R. Kuszmaul, a retired feed salesman known for his grilled pork dinners, died of a heart attack Friday in the Community Hospitals of Williams County in Montpelier, Ohio. He was 67.

Mr. Kuszmaul was a salesman for Moorman Feed Manufacturing Co., selling hog feed and also raising a few hogs of his own on a small farm. In the early 1950s, he worked for the Ohio Gas Co. and later was a heavy equipment operator for a Bryan, Ohio, firm.

He retired in 1998.

Every year, he grilled pork for the Pork Producers of Williams County at the annual Williams County Fair. He also prepared his specialty for weddings and fund-raisers.

Mr. Kuszmaul was a devoted member of the Hilltop Athletic Boosters, which helped support sports teams at West Unity High School.

About 10 years ago, he plowed the ground to prepare for a new football field at the high school, his daughter Richelle Colon said.

Years earlier, Mr. Kuszmaul helped organize a youth baseball league, she said.

An ardent sports fan, he encouraged children to participate in athletics.

“The nice thing about my dad was when he was at a basketball or football game, even if his own grandkid was out there playing, he was like a grandfather to every child there,” Ms. Colon said. “He didn't focus on himself much. He focused on kids, grandkids, and what he could provide to the community.”

He was a member of the Pheasants Forever Club.

Surviving are his wife, Mary; sons, Brian, William, and Richard; daughters, Richelle Colon, Brenda Cable, and Denise Smith; brothers, George and Jim; sisters, Lois Stambaugh and Nancy Kuszmaul; 16 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Services are scheduled for 1 p.m. tomorrow at the Solid Rock Community Church in West Unity, Ohio. The body will be at the Hollingsbead-Beck Funeral Home, West Unity, after 2 p.m. today.

The family suggests tributes to the Hilltop Athletic Boosters.