Richard W. Manuel

"Dick", passed away February 1, 2010 after a struggle with lymphoma. He was 82 years old. Eldest son of Emma Softy and Charles Nelson (both deceased), he is survived by his wife Marjorie, two sons, John and Bill, daughter Pat Saboda (Jeff), grandsons Matt and Kyle, and his brother Thomas and family in Bryn Mawr, PA.Dick made the local Sea Cliff News as the first baby born in the new wing of Glen Cove Community Hospital in Long Island, NY, in 1927. The first of three children (Kathryn and Thomas), he grew up in Sea Cliff, on Hempstead Harbor on Long Island Sound where the Manuel family resided for two generations. Dick developed a love of sailing which he pursued his entire life.After graduating from Sea Cliff High School in 1945, Dick enlisted in the Merchant Marine and graduated as a chief warrant officer. World War II hostilities ended before his first assignment but he continued under the War Shipping Association, sailing to the east coast of South America on ships owned by the Grace Line. After completing his service requirement in 1947, he entered Lafayette College, obtaining a degree in Chemical Engineering. He participated in track, soccer and intercollegiate sailing, and was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. In his senior year he met his future wife, Marjorie and they were married after his graduation in 1951. That same year, Dick joined Colgate Palmolive's international division, beginning a career that lasted into the ‘80's. Dick was called into the Army in 1954 and assigned to the Army Chemical Center at Edgewood, MD. Two years later he returned to Colgate and in 1957 received his first overseas assignment in Lima, Peru as plant manager.During this assignment he traveled extensively throughout South America. He and the family found time to absorb the culture and even pursue his passion for sailing at the local yacht club in Lima.In 1962, Colgate promoted Dick to General Manager of the Japan branch in Tokyo where he spent the next 12 years expanding sales and production in Japan. He and the family adapted well to the new environment and developed friendships that lasted for many years. Dick was active in the Yokohama and West Tokyo communities, serving as Commodore of the Yokohama Yacht Club and in the West Tokyo Union Church.The family returned to the US in 1974 and settled in Ridgewood NJ. Dick was named a Director in the Colgate Engineering Group, playing key roles in the integration - and later divestment - of various companies which Colgate had acquired over the years. In 1986 Dick took early retirement from Colgate and made the transition with his wife from NJ to Shelter Island, NY. He had first visited the island on a sailing trip in the early ‘50s, and it proved to be a very special place which he kept returning to with the family every couple of years. Now in retirement and living in the summer house they built in the ‘70s, Dick and Marjorie were able to spend time with old and new friends, work in the garden, and travel - sometimes on their sailboat "Mermaid". He was very involved in the community and was active in the Shelter Island and Menantic yacht clubs, served on the local Waterways Council & Silver Beach Association, and as an elder in the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church.In 2005, Marjorie and Dick left Shelter Island and moved cross-country to Bainbridge Island, WA to be closer to daughter Pat and her family, and to their 2 sons who are also in the west.A memorial service will be held at the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church on May 22nd, 2pm. Burial of his ashes will follow after the service. Donations in his name can be made to the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church.