Richard Edmund Calou

Richard Edmund Calou of San Diego, California passed away on Monday, September 8, 2025, at the age of 77. Rick was born on September 29, 1947, in Oakland, California, the second of three children. He moved to the Sonoma County area with his family in the early 1960s where he lived off and on for many years before settling in San Diego in 1996.

There are some themes that have run through Rick’s life: a love for his family and friends, a love of tinkering--he was always fixing things up and making them better, a love for cars and motorcycles, a love of music, a love of skiing—especially with his son, and the role diabetes played in his life.

As a kid Rick loved to take things apart and put them back together again. He always had a project going, and he always strived for excellence. He was an artist and a craftsman--he once made a chandelier by welding together toilet floats. His love of steampunk is no surprise. He also lovingly renovated his house. This love for using his hands fit well with the joy Rick found in driving machines and his eventual career in engineering.

Rick’s grandfather Ernie bought him his first motorcycle in the early 1960s so that he had transportation from Berkeley to Oakland where he worked at the family laundry business. It was a Harley Davidson 90. It was underpowered and he had to mix oil with gas to run it, so he traded it in for a Honda 350. This led to a long string of vehicles—a panel van, an Austin Healey sports car, a 1930s Plymouth coup, an Indian motorcycle, a BMW motorcycle, his 1952 Triumph, his ’76 Ford pick-up, his 1934 Ford For-Dor, and his practical Prius.

Rick was a dilletante and entrepreneur. He was a hippie for a time—he tried to go to Woodstock, but got stuck in traffic on the freeway. He also owned a San Francisco taxi medallion from the mid-1970s to early 2000s, a random investment that served him well. While living in Sonoma county he worked with auto parts and repair. He also ran a comic business—buying and selling comics, comic art, and posters, and was a regular attendee of Comic-Con. Another passion was making jewelry and metal working.

Rick met Pamela Jordan in 1982 and was given the gift of his son, Marcus, in January of 1983. Marcus then gave Rick the gift of his granddaughter in 2015. Two weeks before his passing Rick celebrated Alexis’ 10th birthday with family and friends and reveled in driving his 1934 Ford to Temecula.

Rick was diagnosed with diabetes as a teenager, which influenced his life in many ways. After his own father passed at the age of 39, Rick didn’t think he would live that long. Having Marcus changed his perspective and sparked a new purpose, so in 1991 he went back to school at Santa Rosa Junior College. It took him five years to earn his associate degree, but then he chose to transfer to UC San Diego to follow a doctor who was conducting research on glucose monitors.

Rick was very active in school, serving as the president of many clubs, including the SRJC Ski & Snowboard Club, and the Biomedical Engineering Society. Rick was very proud to have earned his Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering in 2000 and his Master of Engineering in Bioengineering in 2002. He then worked for several companies using his engineering skills to develop better medical devices.

In his retirement era, Rick was active with several motorcycle clubs, including the San Diego Antique Motorcycle Club. He still enjoyed skiing and traveling frequently. He met regularly with friends and for the last eight years ran the Alley of Death, a friendly motorcycle skills competition, in the alley behind his house.

Rick is survived by his son, Marcus Jordan and his wife Christina Jordan, granddaughter Alexis Jordan, sister Diane Atwood and her husband Guy Atwood, sister April Calou and her wife Sandy Wolfe and April’s children Max and Bonnie, nephew Brian Atwood and his children Daylin and Cameron, niece Jeanne Kalin and her husband Jon Kalin and daughters Sidney and Emily, and numerous friends and extended family who miss him dearly.

Family and friends are invited to attend a Celebration of Life at El Camino Memorial – Sorrento Valley, 5600 Carroll Canyon Road, San Diego, California on Saturday, October 4 at 10 a.m.