Our brother, Richard Michael Perzanowski, passed away the morning of Saturday, September 26, 2015. Rich was born in Cleveland, Ohio on April 19, 1958. He was preceded in death by his parents Richard H. (Dick) and Sarah A. (Sally) Perzanowski (nee Dorraugh), both of whom he deeply missed, as well as many aunts and uncles and a favorite cousin, Johnny Collins. He leaves behind to mourn his passing sisters, Susan Perzanowski of Akron, Lisa (Markus) Kaucic of Silver Lake, and Barbara (Denver, CO), his beloved brother, Mark of Akron, nieces Gloria Kaucic & Grace Kaucic (both of Dallas, TX) and Angela Kaucic (Jimmy Fisher), of Akron as well as a multitude of cousins.
Rich suffered a stroke in November, 2014. He fought a hard battle of many complications. It seems as if every time he appeared to be making progress, he suffered another setback. For the past ten months, he was in and out of hospitals and rehabilitation centers, which were very hard on him. Yet, he seemed a changed person, apologizing for pain he may have caused in the past, redeeming himself with the Lord, and thanking everyone for their loving support. In the end, he seemed to have given up.
Perhaps Rich could not stand the thought of spending another holiday season in a nursing home since he relished every holiday, particularly Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
Rich loved decorating for Halloween and passing out candy to the ghosts and goblins that happened upon his doorstep. He also loved Thanksgiving, and he tried to recreate the glorious dinners the Perzanowski and Kelly families would celebrate together each year. He also got great joy out of decorating for Christmas. He would never admit it, and would often try hard to hide it, but Rich had a very sentimental heart and held onto important memories of growing up, a time when life seemed so much easier.
Our brother developed a love for cooking, as was obvious as he grew older, and grew. The saying, “never trust a skinny chef” comes to mind. He was quite good at cooking, often duplicating our Mom’s best recipes. And he was always trying new things. Many times he would come up with something new that wouldn’t turn out quite right, but he would learn from his errors, and perfect his recipe quickly. Our sister Lisa said he really liked Guy Fieri’s show, Diners, Dumpsters and Driveways... otherwise known correctly as, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and he religiously watched other cooking shows for tips and inspiration. He was also quick to offer advice to my sisters...and cousins...and, well, let’s just say everyone. Because, like most people who enjoy cooking, nobody does it better.
Along with cooking food, he also enjoyed growing cucumbers and peppers, but he especially loved growing tomatoes. One summer, Rich’s garden consisted of almost 60 tomato plants. Yes, 60! So what would he do with all the tomatoes? He gave them away to the senior residents at the Chapel Hill Towers apartments. Almost every day during the summer he would get an “order” from his friends at the apartments, pick the fruit, bag it and cart it (sometimes with peppers and cucumbers) up to the apartment residents. Most people can imagine that he made a lot of friends at the apartment complex, people who appreciated the fresh produce generously offered to them. Sometimes they would pay him, sometimes not, but he never asked for anything in exchange.
Rich was a big sports fan with college football, NASCAR and horse racing as a few of his favorites. Every year he made it a point to plan his days around the Triple Crown races. He acquired his appreciation for the “Sport of Kings” from Mom and Dad, and every year he made sure to watch the races with Mom. He also had a knack for predicting the winners. It was uncanny. He would have made a lot of money if he’d had the opportunity to bet the races. And it was amazing that, every year, year after year, when horse after horse would win the Derby and the Preakness, those horses would be favorites to win the Belmont and the Triple Crown. Rich would aver that the horses weren’t good enough to win the Triple Crown. The Belmont, being a much longer run, would “kill” the favored horses. Year after year he was right, doggone it! This year, after American Pharoah won the first two races, when his brother Mark was visiting him in the nursing home, he said, “I think this horse can do it.” And after listening to him, for 37 years saying, “No, not this horse...” the one horse that he said would win, did win. It was amazing. Absolutely amazing!
When it came to college football, his favorite team was the Fighting Irish (and Polish), those Catholic boys at Notre Dame. Rich never missed a game on television, many times driving his Mom and brother crazy when a game was not televised. (Whoa Nelly, would he pitch a fit!) He joyfully witnessed a couple of National Championships for the Fighting Irish, and a couple for The Ohio State Buckeyes. So, college football was much kinder for him than pro football and our Cleveland Browns. We won’t get into the 1999 to current Browns teams here. And, there’s no need to discuss his opinion of Art Modell. That would be for adult ears only. And if you can’t say somethin’ nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all. (TOTH to Thumper)
One year, Rich was an eye-witness to an event that only a few thousand people in the world would share. Of the hundreds of thousands of people, maybe even millions of people, who claim to have attended The Miracle on Ice hockey game between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics, Rich WAS actually in the stands at that game. At the time, he was working for A. Schulman Plastics in Akron. One day, a family friend, who also worked at Schulman Plastics, was at our house asking if we would be able to use four tickets to a hockey game at the upcoming winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Rich excitedly accepted the tickets and headed off to Upstate New York. At the time, no one knew that game would turn out to be one of the most important and memorable moments in American sports history. And my brother had four tickets in his hand. So, who did he ask to go with him? His brother? Who played hockey? Uh, no. He asked three of his buddies who played for Kent State University, leaving his brother at home to tune in to the game via radio broadcast. (Can you guess who is writing this short snippet? Yes, his brother Mark who is still a little snippy about this “little incident.”)
Rich had an interest in American History, particularly the Civil War, World War II, and the Vietnam War. All the way back to High School he collected books on the subjects, and he could discuss them intelligently and accurately with anyone. As a child, he built models of WWII-era planes and was very well versed in the arms and armaments of those times. He had a deep respect for veterans and he could talk with them, and listen to their stories for hours. He held onto a number of family military mementos including the Purple Heart issued posthumously to our Mother’s brother, Thomas Dorraugh, who was killed in action at Guadalcanal in World War II.
He had a specific taste in rock and roll music, and if he didn’t like it, it was “garbage.” He listened to many different artists, but his favorites were Eric Clapton, The Allman Brothers, Boz Scaggs, and George Harrison. One of his absolute favorites was Jimmy Buffett, whom he first saw perform in 1981. It irked him, in recent years to see the “Beach Parties” at Buffett’s concerts by people he considered Johnny-Come-Latelys. It was kinda funny, but he took “his music” seriously. He had a memory like a steel trap. If you named a song, he could name the artist and album.
He loved Florida and Cleveland, Carly Simon and Jack Daniels. He loved Chinese food, and Mexican food and, well, just about all food. He could talk to anyone at anytime, and make friends at the drop of a hat. He could have a hair-trigger temper, but he also could be extremely kind and generous. We hope that everyone knows that.
He is our brother, and we will miss him. We love you, Rich.
Rest in peace.
“Love is the greatest thing in the world; It alone can overcome hate, and right will triumph over might.”

IN LIEU OF FLOWERS PLEASE MAKE MEMORIAL DONATIONS TO THE LISA M KAUCIC AND RICHARD PERZANOWSKI ACCOUNT AT CITIZENS BANK (3323 KENT ROAD, STOW, OH 44224)

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