Richard "Dick" Pierle

Richard “Dick” James Pierle (80)

Richard was born August 3, 1940 in Flint, Michigan to Howard Lee and Phyllis Arlene (Carpenter), second of their four children together. He was baptized in high school at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Royal Oak, Michigan August 11, 1957. He died in Grand Blanc, Michigan Nov 16, 2020 with his son David by his side.

Dick was a January 1959 graduate of Berkley High School and will be remembered as a celebrated Half and Fullback who wore jersey numbers 25 and 26 for the Bears. His explosive, often unstoppable and game winning carries led a local sports writer to nickname him the Bears’ “Speed Merchant.” Dick covered the fifty (50) yard dash in 6.1 seconds in full uniform. He averaged 7 yards/carry.

His graduating class honored him with the distinction of  “Best Physique” and the Athletic Department as the Varsity Football squad’s MVP for the 1958 season. Coach Finley extended this public accolade, “He’s one of the best around, and the best I’ve ever coached.” Dick lettered in both Football and Track where he ran the final leg of the 880-yard relay. He was also a member of the Varsity, Biology and Glee Clubs.

Dick played a year of college football on scholarship at Hillsdale College in 1959 under Hall of Fame coach Frank “Muddy” Waters. Dick lettered as a freshman and the Chargers won the MIAA state championship that season with an 8-2 record.

After briefly exploring a career in dentistry Dick enlisted in the US Coast Guard in 1964 as a Non-Petty Officer and was stationed in the Great Lakes and Cape May, NJ. He enjoyed his service with the USCG and subsequently six years in the Coast Guard Reserves and earned recognition for Expert Marksmanship.

Dick met Alice Lorraine Schlegel at a social function on the campus of Merrill Palmer Institute in Detroit in January 1966 and they married July 1, 1967 in Melrose, Wisconsin. After coursework at Michigan State and Wayne State Universities, Dick finished his Bachelors degree in Industrial Management in 1972 from the Lawrence Institute of Technology (LIT), now Lawrence Technological University in Southfield while living in Royal Oak. Son David Douglass was born in Royal Oak in 1971 and son Matthew Michael in Jackson in 1975 while the family was living in Spring Arbor.

Dick started his engineering career at Walker Manufacturing in Jackson in 1972 before taking a position at The Ford Motor Company at Livonia Transmission in 1976. The family moved from Spring Arbor to a house in Novi in 1977.

From 1986-1988 Dick worked as an Industrial and Production Engineer for Mazda Motors USA at the Flat Rock, MI Assembly Plant at a time when the plant was gearing up and rolling out the Mazda MX-6 and Ford Probe. Dick traveled to Tokyo and Hofu, Japan for company training that he reflected on fondly. He enjoyed many aspects of Japanese culture and appreciated the Japanese work ethic and particularly embraced the concept of kaizen – continuous improvement. During his tenure at Mazda, Dick gained proficiency in Japanese and practiced Aikido martial arts.*  *Actually not - old family joke *-).

For several years in the 1980s Dick acted as an Assistant Coach for Novi-Northville Colts Little League Football that his sons played with. In 1990 Dick and Alice divorced. In subsequent years he lived in Plymouth, Ann Arbor, Saline and Novi.

In 1988 Dick returned to work at Ford at Livonia Transmission for another fourteen years. International assignments in Chihuahua, Mexico and the Dunton Engineering Center, Essex, England (1999-2000) followed.  In November of 1999 Dick traveled through Southern and Central Germany with younger son Matt. They particularly enjoyed exploring medieval Freiburg and in Erfurt, where Matt was engaged in a Fulbright fellowship, they enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving meal with the convivial German-American Society. Over the New Years holiday that year older son David visited Dick at his post outside of London. Dick retired from Ford in 2002.

Always a “Car Nut,” he took a keen interest in classic and sports cars from America, Germany and Japan and American made pick-up trucks. He rarely kept a vehicle more than a few years, preferring instead to switch it up. In the mid 1980s and inspired by the movie “Back To The Future” Dick built a Bradley GT2 kit car with a Volkswagen chassis, fiberglass body and gull wings. He sold the car shortly before David turned 16!

In addition to the splendor of the Great Lakes Dick loved the Rocky Mountains, the Fall colors of New England and breathing the salty air from both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

He was a good skier on both water and snow and in spite of a stocky figure notably graceful on ice skates. Dick was in his element attending hot air balloon rallies, car shows and airshow fly-ins. He also enjoyed riding a bicycle and would light up at the sight of a Ping Pong or Billiards table where he consistently delivered respectable performances.

Dick was a passionate Detroit Red Wings hockey fan and championed the University of Michigan and it’s Football team. He attended a few games at “The Big House” in Ann Arbor and rarely missed one on TV from home or a local pub. When the team made it to the Rose Bowl in 1990 Dick was sure to be in Pasadena, California with Dave and Matt for the parade and the big game.

After retirement, and until dementia made it too difficult, Dick spent several winters in Mesa, Arizona where he took continuing education courses and enjoyed the sunny weather.

After working with an architect to design a single story home suited to his needs, Dick moved Up North in 2016 to Williamsburg (Traverse City) to retire with a view of Lake Michigan.

In addition to his love of cars, Dick will be remembered for beautiful, flowing handwritten script and his hearty laughter.

Being around granddaughter Grace Ann and grandson Carter David always meant a great deal to him. In addition to his sons and grandkids, Dick’s survivors include brother Thomas, half brother William (wife Jandi) both of California, Sister-in-Law Bonnie of Arizona, nieces, nephews, numerous great nieces and great nephews and a few meaningful friends.  He was preceded in death by his parent and older siblings Robert and Marilyn.

The family would like to extend a thank you to all medical staff who cared for Dick during his struggles with dementia and ultimately CoVid-19. Memorial contributions can be made to the Lewy Body Dementia Association: www. lbda.org.


A memorial for friends and family will take place on Saturday September 25th, 2021 in Hillsdale County, Michigan.
Those wishing to attend virtually at noon Eastern (9am Arizona/Pacific Time) use the following Zoom link:
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Online Meeting ID: 410 957 9829, Passcode: 1u3hz3.
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Please direct personal memories of Richard “Dick” to: mattpierle@gmail.com