Richard Joseph Chouinard's Obituary
Richard Joseph Chouinard passed peacefully on Sunday, December 15, 2024, at the age of 92 at his home in West Palm Beach, Florida. He was a Harvard Business School graduate (1957) and President and CEO of USLife Advisors and USLife Income Fund, and Chief Investment Officer for USLife on Maiden Lane in Manhattan, one block from Wall Street.
Richard was born on July 25, 1932 in Quincy, Massachusetts to Joseph Emile Chouinard and Emma Frances Jennings Chouinard. He started his love of money early collecting stamps and coins, which would turn into life-long loves and pursuits. Always striving for excellence, he graduated as the salutatorian of his class at Quincy High School, before attending Northeastern University, where he graduated with an almost perfect GPA and gained entry to Harvard Business School. While in college, he worked at the bank starting from the ground up, and also enrolled in the Army ROTC program to become an officer in the Army Reserves. After graduating from Harvard Business School, he was highly sought after on Wall Street. Diligently working his way up the corporate ladder, finally landing at USLife where he spent 19 years as one of the most respected Investment Bankers on Wall Street.
In 1966, Richard was invited to attend Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway by his Intern from Harvard Business School, Emerson Barney “Bud” Robinson and his wife Judy Treppendahl. They were joined by her sister, Mildred Elizabeth “Beth” Treppendahl, who he would fall madly in love with and marry that year. She looked just like the beautiful Esther Williams in “The Million Dollar Mermaid.” After Beth’s passing in 1978, “Dick”, as he was known on Wall Street, raised his two children by himself while coming home late from work on the Long Island Rail Road from Wall Street each night. Richard was a client of Rita Lee Block who worked as a Junk-Bond Saleswoman at Dillon Reed. He would fall in love and marry her in 1987. She sadly passed in 2011.
Richard is survived by his loving children Richard Joseph Chouinard, Jr., of West Palm Beach, FL, Elizabeth Wilhelmina Chouinard Grandich and her husband Eric Grandich of Boerne, TX, and Jill Chouinard Mallek and her husband Richard Mallek of Barrington, Illinois. As well, he is survived by his 4 grandchildren: Richard Chouinard Grandich, Trepp Russell Grandich, Giselle Evangeline Grandich, and Rebekah Mallek and step-grandson Gage Mallek.
Services will be held on Sunday, December 22, 2024, 12pm, at Beth-David Memorial Chapel, Levitt-Weinstein, 3201 N. 72nd Ave., Hollywood, FL, 33024.
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