Richard H. Freeman, 79

Richard H. Freeman, died on Tuesday, June 24, 2008, of complications of lung cancer. He was 79.

Mr. Freeman was born on Jan. 12, 1929, in Milwaukee and grew up in River Falls.

He graduated from River Falls High School in 1946, and from Northwestern University in 1950.

He was a Korean War veteran of the U.S. Air Force.

He worked briefly as a brand manager in Minneapolis, then entered the magazine publishing business in Des Moines and moved from there to a variety of publishing and marketing assignments in Chicago, Detroit, New York and Washington, D.C.

In Washington, he managed publications for the American Institute of Architects, the National Association of Hot Dip Galvanizers, and the National Solid Waste Management Association. He retired from the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents, in Alexandria, Va., in 1995, and moved to Akron, Ohio in 1998.

He won numerous news writing, publishing, design and marketing awards from American Business Press, American Society of Association Executives, and the Business and Professional Advertising Association, among others.

He is survived in Akron, Ohio, by Eleanor Harris Freeman, his high school sweetheart who he married in 1950; by his step-sister, Harriet Negard and her family in River Falls; by his four daughters: Christine A. of Montgomery, Ala., Sarah J. of Whitefish Bay, Margaret E. Freeman-Karcewski of Middletown, Md., and Laura E. Freeman-Clark of Tallmadge, Ohio; by his sons-in-law; and seven grandchildren.

His parents, Roscius W. and Gertrude Freeman, preceded him in death. He had no siblings.

Cremation has taken place at the Adams-Mason Funeral Home in Akron. His ashes will be inurned in Greenwood Cemetery in River Falls.

A memorial service was held on Saturday, June 28, at the First United Methodist Church of Akron. Memorials may be given to the First United Methodist Church of Akron’s music program.

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