Richard Jay Rogen

If there was ever anything his family needed, Richard Jay Rogen wanted to provide it.

That might mean insisting on covering his two children’s cell phones way into their adulthood or

driving his wife and two dogs to Charlotte to visit their grandchildren. There was the time his

son, then about 10 years old, was in the emergency room catatonic after some roughhousing

gone wrong. There was nothing wrong with Joshua, the doctors said, but no one could snap him

out of shock.

Everyone should leave the room, Dick said. He then closed the curtains and showed his son a

full moon. Josh’s laughter immediately reassured the hallway spectators.

Dick — known for his good nature and solid advice as well as, apparently, a sense of humor that

combined both — died on Sunday in Cleveland. He was 81.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 20, at Mayfield Cemetery (2749

Mayfield Road). The family will begin Shiva immediately following the funeral at their home at

32755 Woodsdale Lane in Solon until 8 p.m. Shiva will continue on Friday and Saturday from 2

to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m.

Dick was born in November 1943 in Brooklyn, New York, to Harry and Sylvia Rogen née

Goldstein. But if asked, he would tell you he was from Greenfield, South Carolina. The family

moved there to follow the garment industry.

Dick had a happy childhood and would reminisce about a MG TD he rebuilt with his father as a

teen that kicked off a life-long appreciation for cars. He adored his decade-older brother Neil

and later Neil’s wife Elisabeth, son John and daughter Stephanie.

Influenced by Neil’s engineering career, Dick enrolled in Georgia Tech. The field wasn’t for him

and he instead earned a B.S. in industrial management that led to a MBA at Boston University

and a career in health-care administration.

It was through his career and a job at Blue Cross Blue Shield that he met his wife, Judith,

across a negotiating table. He’d ask her out and she’d refuse, telling him he was going to ruin

her career. Eventually, though, she said yes.

His kindness to her dying father convinced Judith that Dick was a “real mensch.” In November

1985, they married with a small ceremony in their Back Bay apartment they jokingly called the

petit palace. Sometimes at night, they’d leave land and sleep in the hold of Dick’s sailboat,

Modesty, in the Boston Harbor.

A year later, Judith gave birth to their daughter, Jessica, and then Joshua in 1989.

The vicissitudes of the health-care industry eventually brought them to Cleveland, where

Judith’s family lives. Dick worked for Summa Health Care for years before eventually

co-founding Carnegie Consulting, a health-care consulting group. He was passionate about his

job and though he stepped back over time, never fully stopped working.

Being a consultant and giving advice suited his personality. His children also remember him as a

supportive parent who often picked up their interests. That meant adding OSU to the roster of

sports teams he supported and reading and falling in love with Harry Potter alongside them.

He is survived by his wife, Judith Saltzman; his daughter Jessica Rogen and her husband Ryan

Krull and their child Ari; and his son Joshua Rogen, his wife Amy Rogen and their children

Scarlett and Aiden.

He is loved and missed by many more family members and friends.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the ACLU.