Richard Lyle Loveland

Dick Loveland died peacefully on Monday, November 14, 2022, two days shy of his ninety-second birthday. Dick was a wonderful son, brother, husband, father, father-in-law, grandfather, great grandfather, loyal friend, Marine officer, attorney, fisherman (unparalleled tangler of fishing line), adventurer (including at least one special journey with each child and grandchild), enthusiastic lifelong student, teacher, and mentor, golfer, poker and bridge player, storyteller, artist, Kiwanian, 32nd degree Mason, avid Buckeye fan, Lincoln expert, screw-top-wine-over-ice connoisseur, driveway cleaner, tomato and flower gardener, John Deere driver and ride-giver, pruner of the North Woods, and a myriad of other characters. On the other hand, he couldn’t swim (which does not mix well with the fisherman part), and he was mechanically and technologically challenged.

Dick was born on November 16, 1930 in Warren, Pennsylvania. Family lore has it that throughout his childhood, it was no coincidence that his mother always prepared devil’s food birthday cake for him and angel food cake for his brother. His father was a traveling salesman, so he had a rather itinerate childhood, taking great pride in having attended seventeen grade schools and five high schools. One district to which the family relocated had an enrollment policy which required him to skip a half-year. He joked that he still somehow managed to be successful in life without ever gaining the vast knowledge imparted in the second half of second grade. Also, attendance at one of these schools apparently required “a five-mile cross country ski trip, uphill both ways.”

Dick’s lifelong appreciation for the military began early in life. As a child, he learned to fish while making family visits to the cemetery of some of his paternal ancestors. When the fish were not biting in the nearby stream, Dick became fascinated by the headstone of his great-grandfather, Civil War veteran Corporal Billy Loveland. As an adult, Dick spent countless hours researching Corporal Billy and visiting Gettysburg and Appomattox to track down the Corporal’s exact movements and involvement. It became known locally that Dick had developed this expertise, so organizations with shared interests began inviting him to speak at meetings. He would grow a beard and dress as Corporal Billy complete with Kepi cap to bring his presentations to life.

His own service began during his senior year at Brush High School in Cleveland when he enlisted in the Marine Corps. During summer training camp while standing in line at a tattoo parlor, he was forcibly dragged aside by his Sergeant and told under no circumstances was he to get a tattoo, as his name was being submitted for officer candidate consideration.

Enrolled in NROTC at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Dick majored in Business Administration and joined the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Freshman year, as a substitute blind date for a Valentine’s dance, he met Catherine Ross, his future wife. Following graduation, he served active duty in the Marines for two years and stayed in the Reserves for another decade. Later in life, one of his proudest moments came when he was asked to travel to Washington, D.C. as part of an Honor Flight.

Dick’s destination following his service was, as it was then known, The Ohio State University College of Law. He joined the Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity and graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1957. Over that time, he also was father to a two-year-old son with another on the way. Eventually, that brood grew to four.

He continued to practice law in Columbus for the next 60 years, specializing primarily in real estate and small government law. Through a series of chance circumstances, he became Central Ohio’s leading authority on condominium law. On several occasions he also served as an adjunct law professor at Ohio State, teaching real estate finance. Not coincidentally, his best seats in the Horseshoe came in those same years.

The legal profession and its perception were of utmost importance to Dick, and that included an unwavering commitment to integrity and professionalism as well as meticulously dressing the part (and always with an American Flag pin on his lapel). Evidence of his full immersion in his chosen field also came the year he signed the romantic birthday card to his wife of numerous decades, “Sincerely, Richard L. Loveland, Attorney at Law.”

Dick served many years on the board of the charitable Columbus Bar Foundation, and he was instrumental in helping the Foundation develop investment policy. He also was very active in the Columbus Bar Association. He served on the Real Estate and Ethics Committees. Along with his oldest son Bill, he spent many years conducting ethics interviews of potential attorneys prior to their taking the Bar Exam. He took each case quite seriously, and frequently became an advocate for applicants with a few bad decisions in their past.

As the child of a Roman Catholic father and a Baptist mother, of course Dick attended Sunday School at the church nearest to wherever they happened to live at the time. This translated into some colorful stories! As an adult, Dick’s favorite religious activity was active annual participation in The Joseph Fletcher Lawyers’ Conference, a gathering of attorneys and a guest speaker generally arguing some finer point of religion. At family gatherings, he was charged with saying grace - which invariably ended with “Amen. Go Bucks.”

Dick is predeceased by his parents Lyle and Eleanor, and by his younger brother US Air Force Lt. Col. William Loveland. Family left to cherish his life and legacy includes his beloved wife of 70 years Catherine; all 4 of his children, Bill, Jim (Debi), and Dan Loveland and Cath Loveland Vowell (Mike); six grandchildren, Megan (Chad) Meyer, Matt (Alli) Loveland (their mother Susan), Samantha (Joel) McCrory, Sarah Loveland, Jake and Abbey Vowell; three great grandchildren, Charlie and Luke Meyer, Hannah McCrory; sister-in-law, Pattie Loveland and family; nephews, David, Robert, Patrick, and Mark Loveland; and devoted pup, Pumpkin.

Visitation is scheduled for Monday, November 21, 2022, 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm at Schoedinger Dublin, 5980 Perimeter Drive, Dublin, Ohio, 43017.

A Celebration of Life service is scheduled for Tuesday, November 22, 2022 at 10:30 am at Saint Patrick’s Episcopal Church, 7121 Muirfield Drive, Dublin, Ohio, 43017.

For those so kindly inquiring about memorial gifts in lieu of flowers, two of Dick’s favorite charities are:

OSU Circle K Scholarship Fund c/o Kiwanis Club of University, Columbus ATTN: Randy Fahy, Treasurer 249 Village Drive Columbus, Ohio 43214

Lawyer-to-Lawyer Fund c/o Columbus Bar Foundation 175 South 3rd Street Suite 1100 Columbus, Ohio 43215 https://www.cbalaw.org/Foundation/Funds