Wilbur "Bill" Harold Rich Jr.

Wilbur H. Rich, Jr. (Bill) passed on to his Heavenly home July 15, 2025, while in the loving care of a hospice house in Collierville. Bill was born May 22, 1933, in Cincinnati, Ohio and just celebrated his 92nd birthday with the tender-hearted staff, family and friends.

Bill spent his early years in Miamisburg, Ohio with his parents and younger brother Ron. Organized sports were Bill's passion - he went on to play his favorite sport, basketball, at Ohio Wesleyan University. He graduated with a degree in Business Administration. He also gained lifelong friendships while in the brotherhood of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Before beginning his career, he served in the United States Army and was granted another opportunity to play basketball competing with teams from other bases. During an Army chapel service, Bill was saved by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Bill returned to Miamisburg and served his hometown by becoming City Treasurer. He met the love of his life, Janet, and the two were married in Kenova, West Virginia in 1960. They were soon blessed with three children. Bill brought his family to Germantown in 1974 when transferred with the Tire and Battery Corporation in the role of Vice President of Production and Planning.

God gifted Bill with a supernatural knack with numbers and statistics. He could calculate a grocery sum before the cash register printed the receipt...including tax! His brilliant mind was a storehouse for all things sports-related and with uncanny recall, rattle off the stats of any player on any one of his favorite teams. He was an avid spectator of many sports, but he also enjoyed a good round of golf at Windyke Country Club with the "Over-the-Hill" gang.

Bill was preceded in death by his parents, Wilbur, Sr. and Gretchen Rich; his wife, Janet (2005), and grandson, John Evans (2010).

He is survived by his brother and best friends, Ron Rich (Marianne) of Phoenix, AZ; sons Wilbur, III. (Chip) and Mark Rich; Daughter Kimberly Evans (Chris) of Marietta, GA; and grandchildren, Sarah Jan Cron (Jack) and Andrew Evans. Bill had three great-grandchildren and several loving nieces and nephews.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held in the Chapel at Baptist Reynolds Hospice House, 1520 West Poplar Avenue, Collierville, Tennessee 38017, on Saturday, July 19, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a contribution to the hospice house where caregivers become like family in the last several months of Bill's life.