Richard Michael Gage's Obituary
Richard was born on January 7, 1944, and passed away peacefully on March 14, 2017, after a courageous 12 year battle with Prostate Cancer. Loving husband of Judy; Father of Jeffrey (Sabina), Peter (Nanci), Christian (Christy) and Melissa (Scott); proud grandfather of Jessica, Zachary, Amanda, Adam, Alyssa, Bradley, Shea, Sydney and MacKenzie; brother of Walter Jr (Nadine). Richard was predeceased by his parents Walter Sr. and Dorothea Gage and brother, Michael (Donna) Gage.Richard was born in Rochester, NY and graduated from McQuaid Jesuit High School in 1961. He began a 40 year career at Xerox Corporation at 19 years-old. While climbing the corporate ladder, Richard was very proud to have earned a combined Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in 1982 from the University of Rochester. In 1996, Richard and Judy, as empty nesters, took their adventure to Chicago, IL where Richard was the Vice President of Administration for Xerox Corporation. In 2002, he retired from Xerox and enjoyed snow birding from Chicago to Fort Myers each winter until their full time relocation to Florida in 2010.Richard was a talented painter, and enjoyed playing golf, watching Syracuse basketball and experiencing the Chicago Cubs championship run to a World Series victory in 2016. He loved spending time with his friends from Rochester, Boston, Chicago and Fort Myers. Most of all, he was happiest when surrounded by his family.Anyone that knew Richard well was familiar with his creative wit and how tremendously gifted he was at generating smiles and making people laugh. In fact, one enduring question that troubled him for years was “Why is there no poker playing on an African safari?” We think he finally found the answer: “Too many cheetahs”… just saying. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, www.pcf.org or donations in Richard’s name can be sent to McQuaid Jesuit, 1800 South Clinton Avenue, Rochester, NY 14617.A funeral mass will be held Tuesday, March 28th at 11:00 am at St. Therese Catholic Church, 20115 North Tamiami Trail, North Fort Myers, FL 33903.To share a story, leave a tribute or to offer condolences to the family at this difficult time please visit Richard’s memorial webpage at www.fortmyersmemorial.com and sign his guestbook.
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