Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Richard Thomas Koffenberger
Richard Thomas Koffenberger (Dick) died on July 23, 2020 from long term complications of a blood disease. He was born in Wilmington Delaware, the third son of Arthur Wallace and Natalie Taylor Koffenberger. He grew up among lots of grade school and high school friends, many whom he was close to throughout his life. He played ball – any kind of ball – as much as he could. He played point guard on the University of Maryland Terrapins basketball team for four years and coach junior varsity basketball his senior year. He played baseball as well and graduated with a business degree. He added more lifelong friends from his KA fraternity and his basketball team.
After college, he served in the Army for two years, stationed at Camp Gordon, Georgia (now Fort Gordon). He returned to Wilmington and married Susan Ferver and had an enjoyable and rewarding career in University Relations at the DuPont Company for 33 years, retiring in 1993, collecting more friends from among his colleagues at DuPont and from the universities he visited. He married his second wife, Linda Lawson, in 1984. He and Linda moved to Holly Springs in 1996.
He was a quiet, good-hearted and witty man, who liked - not surprisingly - nothing better than to be in the company of family and friends. He lived his life with integrity, kindness and respect for others. He had that amazing talent for remembering names and faces with ease. He could size a person up immediately, without bearing judgement. He loved playing golf, watching college sports and visiting the national parks. Dick was inducted into the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.
He was predeceased by his first wife and his three brothers, Arthur, Edward and Joseph. He is survived by his children, Richard jr, Thomas, Andrew and Jane; 6 grandchildren; and 4 great grandchildren. A celebration of life will be held in Kennett Square, PA when the pandemic is over.
If you knew him, please remember him with a smile.