Mathew Price

Mathew Lyon Price was born the second son of Linda (Rice) Price and Michael Allen Price on January 25, 1982, in Norman, OK; and passed on December 9, 2023 at his home. He was preceded in death by his father, Michael Price; his maternal grandparents, Esther and Elroy Rice; his uncle Cliff Rice; and his paternal grandparents, Jack & Loretta Price. He is survived by his beloved dog Leo; his mother Linda Rice Price of Norman; his brother Justin (April) Price of Ft. Collins, CO and their three children Tristan, Jackson, and Moira; his half brother Dr. David (Rayelen) Bowers of Johnsburg, IL and their three children Lana, Blake and Luke; cousins Margaret Rice, Lyn (Astrid) Rice and their son Emerson all of New York City, NY; Verna Bateman of Ponca City, OK; Duane Bateman of Kittery, ME and his children Alex and Christina; Jan and Dan Lack of Edmond, OK; Dane (Jennifer) Price and their daughter Maggie of Shawnee, OK; Judi (Joe) Ragland of Tecumseh OK. and their daughters Siobhan (Luke) Degraffenreid and their son Kyler of Shawnee,OK and Isabella Sharp and her son William; Blaine (Jeanna)Price of Skiatook, OK; Paula (Bill) Tanner and their children Josie & Jessica of Waco, TX. He is also survived by his many friends, especially Eli (Jenny) Smith and their daughter Oriana of Norman, OK; and Phillip (Desire’e) McDonald and their children Kimberly and William and grandson Elliot of Moore, OK.

Like his namesake, Matthew Lyon (who was a Green Mountain boy during the American Revolution and later became a U.S. Representative from Vermont and later Kentucky) Mat had a drive to succeed from a young age. Mathew will be remembered for his drive, his intelligence and his loving nature.

Mathew attended Kennedy Elementary, Irving Middle School, Central Mid High, and Norman High School. Mat received a BA and a Master degree in economics from the University of Oklahoma and completed a year of his PhD before deciding to leave academia. During his undergraduate and graduate studies, he taught classes in economics and statistics as well as tutoring many students who were not in his classes. He also taught at UCO for a short time and taught at OCCC for ten years.

Mathew loved sports, especially soccer, tennis and mixed martial arts. In fact, his first word was ball. Soccer remained his favorite spot and he and Eli were great supporters of the Tottenham Hot Spurs. He played soccer through Mid High. In high school Mat played singles tennis for NHS where he was the number one singles player. In his freshman year at OU, he entered a tennis tournament and won himself a place on the OU Men’s Tennis Team where he played for one season.

At the time of his death Mathew was employed as an Economic Analyst at Tinker Air Force Base where he had recently received a civilian honor for his work. His knowledge of excel and his expertise in statistics allowed him to reformat many programs at Tinker that significantly reduced human errors and increased efficiency to allow several budgetary processes to be done by one person in a few minutes versus an office of 3-4 taking 1-2 weeks to complete the same work.

Mat was also coaching kickboxing twice a week at Empire Jujitsu in Moore. He had instructed boxing and striking techniques for a number of years, and he even cornered a professional mixed martial arts match in Las Vegas. He enjoyed participating in boxing and kickboxing for years, but could no longer do either because of his chronic bad back that resulted from a sports injury playing soccer in his 20’s.

Mathew had a knack for developing strong, lasting friendships, including many dating back to elementary school. He was an extremely caring person with high personal expectations. Whenever possible he would be there when his friends needed assistance that he could help with.

As requested, Mathew was cremated with the assistance of Primrose Funeral Home in Norman. Private services for friends and family will be held at a later date. Contributions to the charity of your choice, or contributions to one of two of Mat’s interests to the Norman Animal Welfare Center or the Wounded Warrior Project in his name would be appropriate.