Strode Funeral Home

Richard W. “Dick” PooleDecember 4, 1927 ~ March 14, 2019Dr. Richard W. “Dick” Poole, age 91, died March 14, 2019.  Services will be at 10:00 am on Saturday, April 6, 2019 at the Brill Chapel of Epworth Villa in Oklahoma City.  Interment will follow at Fairlawn Cemetery in Stillwater.  In his honor, please wear “the world’s brightest orange”.  If not, black is appropriate.  Strode Funeral Home and Cremation is in charge of arrangements.Born December 4, 1927, to William and Lois (Spicer) Poole in Oklahoma City, OK, he graduated from Classen High in 1946 and then enlisted in the Army.  After basic training, he attended Officer Candidate School and was Commissioned a 2nd Lt. Field Artillery at age 18.  Dick Served with the 1st Cavalry Division in Japan and retired from the Army Reserve as a Lt. Col in 1987.Dick married Lynn Mehr in July, 1950.  After graduating from Oklahoma University in 1952, he worked for OG&E and the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.  On completing a PhD in Economics in 1960, he began a 33-year career at Oklahoma State University serving as professor, Dean of the College of Business, and as Vice President.  Although he retired in 1993, he maintained an office on campus and worked on a variety of OSU projects until 2009.  Dick and Lynn moved to Epworth Villa in Oklahoma City in 2004.He was a consultant to the Administrator of NASA, U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Government Research, the National Governors’ Conference, the Manned Spacecraft Center, and many business organizations.  Dick was active in the Presbyterian Church serving as deacon, elder, and chairman of the trustees.He received the highest honor OSU bestows:  The Henry G. Bennett Award.  In recognition of his service to OSU and Oklahoma, business leaders and friends endowed the “Richard W. Poole Professorship for Excellence” in the Spears School of Business.Dick had a 50-year love affair with the beautiful San Juan mountains in S.W. Colorad...