Remembering
Richard M. Ong
Pictured here in front of the Pilgrim Chapel, Richard was a graduate of Rockhurst High School and Rockhurst University and enjoyed mentoring our Rockhurst High School seniors who fulfilled their service projects with the Pilgrim Center in 2020 and 2021.
Richard Marshall Ong (June 27, 1936 - August 30, 2023) was an active member of the Pilgrim Center community. His service was at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Brookside. Click here for details.
An insurance salesman for much of his life, Richard believed that everyone should plan for their estate, in the event of their death. "Even young people die, Amelia," he would often say to me.
Richard himself planned for his estate carefully, allowing for the wealth he accumulated to be left to many nonprofit organizations in whose missions he found value and purpose after his retirement.
If you attended any of our events in the last several years, you may have encountered Richard. He was always willing to help do whatever we needed, unless he was otherwise occupied teaching sudoku to youth at Operation Breakthrough, volunteering at the Hillcrest Transitional Housing Thrift Store, or calling Bingo at one of his independent living communities.
An eccentric man, Richard marched to the beat of his own drummer. He wrote an obituary which he kept up-to-date and shared with many friends and acquaintances. In order to honor his wishes, it is available here.
As the founding member of the Pilgrim Center's Legacy Society, Richard Ong included us in his estate. We are forever grateful to his generosity, both during his life, and, in his death.