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Obituaries

Richard "Dick" Arnold,

Obituary Date: Friday, December 21, 2012
Alexander Funeral Home of Cleveland announces the death of Richard "Dick" Arnold, who passed away on December 17th 2012 in his beloved Mountains of North-Eastern Georgia at the age of 87.

He was born on October 14, 1925 in Syracuse NY, son of the late Benjamin S. and Rosetta W. Arnold, both of Syracuse and was the youngest of 3 children. In 1939, Dick entered the Manlius Military Academy where he remained active in many extracurricular activities which included Football, Basketball, Softball, Tennis, Golf, and The Cadet Band. He acted as Editor-in Chief of the school newspaper and graduated with the rank of Corporal in 1943. He reported for active military duty on November 17, 1944, was assigned to the 87th Acorn Division of the US Army on March 4 of the same year, and began his tour of duty in the European Theatre of World War II at the age of 19. Dick was awarded the Purple Heart for injuries sustained while fighting in the Battle for Bastogne as a front line radio operator, went on to help liberate the Buchenwald Death Camp in April 1944, and was honorably discharged from service on January 26, 1945 with the rank of Private First Class.
In March of 1947, Dick married Frances Solomon and was blessed with 6 children. He was a fisherman, outdoors-man, musician, singer, writer, and consummate story teller. In his early career, Dick positioned his father's Onondaga Supply Company to be the 3rd highest seller of Ford and Frigidaire products in the USA, and as head of sales was proud of the fact that their business also recycled used vinyl for Columbia records. Dick was also a visionary, and presented the City of Ithaca with its first set of blue prints for planned conversion to a downtown shopping mall long before its redevelopment.

In 1977, Dick married Beth and cherished every moment with her for the rest of his life. Together they worked to counsel at risk teens, troubled families, and prison inmates searching for a better future, and in 1980 Dick published his first book: How to Solve Everyday Problems
Funeral Date
01/13/2013 at 12:00AM
Funeral Home
Alexander Funeral Home