Richard Esser Yoder
Richard Esser Yoder, Sr. died peacefully at age 99 on September 28, 2022 in Naples, Florida. He was born in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, the youngest child of Harry B. Yoder and Florence Esser Yoder and brother of Doris Yoder Gardner and William E. Yoder.
Dick attended Penn State University, where he was known as “Dutch” because he was from the Pennsylvania Dutch country. He interrupted his college years to serve in the Pacific in the U.S. Navy but re-enrolled and graduated with a degree in Industrial Engineering in 1947. A few months before graduation he met fellow student Jane Frances Whitby, and they were married in August 1947. They were married for over 68 years at the time of her death in 2016. He worked for nearly all of his over 40-year career for what is now AstraZeneca, but which was Atlas Powder Company when he started. They had five children who all survive him: Susan Yoder Sterling (Rick) of Boulder, CO, Stephen Yoder (Louise) of Birmingham, AL, Jane Yoder Gettler (Frank) of Lexington, KY, Caroline Yoder Blackman (Scott) of Newburyport, MA, and Richard Esser Yoder, Jr. (Kathy) of Moorpark, CA. Dick had weekly Zoom calls with his children beginning at the start of the pandemic and continuing until just a week or so before his death. He is survived by 11 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren, all of whom dropped in at one time or another on the Zoom calls.
Dick’s passion was golf and he had many friends at the various golf courses he played at in the many cities where he and Jane lived over the years, including the small course at the Vi at Bentley Village in Naples where he and Jane had lived since 2007. His family is grateful for the care that he and Jane received there, including Chrisanta Rosborough, Cathy Graves, Keri Gallagher, and Michele Nelson-Baker at the Bentley Village Assisted Living center.
Contributions in Dick’s memory might be made to the charity of one’s choice or to one of the following that are meaningful to one or more of his grandchildren or great-grandchildren:
• Henry M. Hollis Support Fund for Ophthalmology, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Ophthalmology: www. giving.uab.edu
• Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund: www.jdrf. org
• Autism Speaks: www.autismspeaks.org