Dick Ward
A retired San Francisco business owner and longtime resident of Tiburon, Dick Ward died peacefully at his son’s home in Athol, Idaho, in early March 2022. Dick was 89 years old.
Dick was born in 1932 in Salem, Ohio, to parents Russell Ward and Margaret Brown Ward, who had a small farm in Berlin Center, Ohio, where Russell was a high school principal and science teacher. A member of The Ohio State University’s ROTC program, Dick graduated in 1954 with a degree in education, intending to become a science teacher in his home state once he completed military service.
However, a blind date with his future wife, Elizabeth Bowen, disrupted Dick’s plans. The two met and married in 1955 in Tokyo, Japan, where Dick served as a lieutenant in the Army Signal Corps. Settling in Tiburon in 1959, Dick and Elizabeth raised three children and involved themselves in city and county cultural activities.
In the mid-1960s, Dick and several partners opened Tab Sales of California, which focused on selling filing systems, office furniture, and computer supplies to corporations and government agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area. Later, they changed the company’s name to FACS for Offices.
For many years, Dick was an active member of Peace Lutheran Church in Mill Valley. Dick and Elizabeth eventually joined St. Sebastian’s Catholic Church in Greenbrae, and Dick assisted with the church’s St. Vincent de Paul outreach.
Two years after Elizabeth’s 2011 death, Dick moved from Tiburon to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, to be near his son and daughter-in-law, Christopher and Beverly Ward. There he enjoyed riding all-terrain vehicles, boating with his son’s family, listening to Big Band music, and pampering his Maltese dogs.
Dick’s survivors are his three children, Margaret Koike (Steven), Stephanie Yamada (Garrett), and Christopher Ward (Beverly); eight grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and niece Rachel Chandramouli (Mahesh).
Family members ask that any memorial gifts be given in Dick Ward’s name to Idaho Catholic Appeal, 1501 S. Federal Way, Suite 400, Boise, ID 83705, or to Holy Family Catholic School, 3005 W. Kathleen Ave., Coeur d’Alene, ID 83815.