Richard €Œdick” Dolan

Richard "Dick" Dolan passed away on December 6, 2013 from pneumonia complicated by cardiorenal syndrome and lymphoma. He kept his sense of humor right up to the end and will be celebrated with an Irish wake in his home on Sunday, December 8 to which all his family and friends are invited. Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1928, Dick remained a lifelong fan of the Dodgers and remembered listening to radio broadcasts of the Hindenburg disaster and the War of the Worlds drama, which he claimed he knew all along to be fiction. He went off to Notre Dame in 1945, and like a good Easterner, expected to see Indians when he got off the train in the wilds of South Bend. With the cold war draft in full force, he interrupted college for two years of service in the U.S. Navy, where he achieved the rank of Seaman First Class before receiving his honorable discharge. He then returned to Notre Dame and graduated in 1951. Having worked part time in a gas station and served as a mechanic in the Navy, it was natural for him to end up working for Pure Oil Company in Schaumburg, Illinois as the manager of its new Automotive Racing Division. Forty-two years and two mergers later, his position had grown along with the racing industry. Although he worked most closely with NASCAR, was named Grand Marshall for two races, served on the Board of Directors of International Speedway Corporation, and is featured in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, he also earned an Indianapolis 500 ring for serving as a member of Bobby Unser's pit crew during his victorious run in 1975. Having grown to love the southern home of both NASCAR and his wife, Betty, he retired to live on a golf course in South Carolina in 1994 and enjoyed a life of golf and travel. His beloved wife Betty Conlan Dolan died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage in 2008. With family and friends, he will be remembered for his outstanding generosity and hospitality. He was virtually unbeatable at poker and made the best bloody Marys on either side of the Mississippi. His life will be celebrated with a Dolan style Irish Wake/Cocktail party in his home on Sunday, December 8 from 7 to 9 p.m. hosted by his daughters Peggy and Kate, along with Kate's husband Jim Weidman and their children, Trent and Meg, his grandson Aaron, and the Conlan family. A funeral mass will follow at 11A.M. on Monday, December 9 at Saint Gregory the Great Catholic Church, 333 Fording Island Road in Bluffton, South Carolina. He will be laid to rest in the Beaufort National Cemetery on Tuesday. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Saint Gregory or the American Kidney Fund. His life will be celebrated with a Dolan style Irish Wake/Cocktail party in his home on Sunday, December 8 from 7 to 9 p.m. hosted by his daughters Peggy and Kate, along with Kateâ