A memorial service for Dennis Reichardt, a long distance runner, youth soccer coach and former Portola Valley planning commissioner, is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14, at the Roller Hapgood & Tinney funeral home at 980 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto.
Mr. Reichardt died Aug. 31 at his home in San Carlos seven years after being diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, relatives said. He was 64.
For a part of their 30 years in Portola Valley, starting in 1969, Dennis and Sharon Reichardt and their family lived on a six-acre lot at the corner of Georgia Lane and Portola Road, Mr. Reichardt’s son Reid said.
The familiar roadside windmill, with its nursery school, was part of the property. As an example of his father’s determined approach to life, Reid recalled that his father proceeded to paint the then-red windmill a shade of green, despite residents’ objections. (It is white today.)
Mr. Reichardt leavened his outlook with kindness, his son said in recalling the years his father coached him in soccer — an avocation Mr. Reichardt spent 10 years doing for AYSO and CYSA.
“Every time after a game, no matter how the game went, no matter whether we won or lost, he would always tell us how well we did,” his son said. “Even though he was strong-willed person, he was encouraging at the same time.”
Will power may have been essential to Mr. Reichardt’s long distance running, which included regular runs with a family dog up the 1,400 feet of Windy Hill. “That was one of his favorite runs,” his son said, adding that his dad had his timing down well enough to tell his kids precisely when to look at the summit through their telescope and see their father waving to them.
He ran four marathons, including twice in San Francisco and once in Phoenix, his son said. All told, Mr. Reichardt accomplished his goal of running the distance of the circumference of the earth, his son said.
He served on the town’s Planning Commission between 1986 and 1991, relatives said. In 1989, in a spur of the moment decision, Mr. Reichardt took his son to see the Berlin Wall come down, relatives said.
Mr. Reichardt was born in Waukegan, Illinois, graduated from Brigham Young University in 1968, and from Golden Gate University in 1972, where he received a master’s degree in business administration.
Most of his 20-year business career dealt with corporate taxes and finances, followed by about five years in real estate development, relatives said.
Mr. Reichardt is survived by his wife Sharon; daughter Randylyn of Walnut Creek; son Reid of San Francisco; and two grandchildren.
Donations may be made in Mr. Reichardt’s name to CurePSP.org, an organization that seeks a cure for and assists victims of progressive supranuclear palsy, or to UCSF Memory and Aging Center (memory.ucsf.edu/gift.htm), where Mr. Reichardt was a volunteer and donor for PSP research.
