Richard Lee Rushing Jr. was born on Feb. 1, 1944 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Richard, affectionately called " RL," departed this life on Dec. 27, 2017. He was the first of seven beloved children of Richard Lee Rushing Sr. and Evelyn Gates Rushing. He grew up in Avondale and attended Cincinnati Public Schools, graduating from Hughes High School in 1961. He continued his education at The University of Cincinnati, where he enjoyed campus life, his studies in Liberal Arts and writing for the school paper. One day, Ricky (as RL was known then) was invited to a Bible study by his neighbor. RL immediately agreed to attend and was relieved to learn from the Bible that God had the perfect solution to the civil unrest that had begun to call the young fair-minded man to action. On April 10th, 1965 RL was baptized as one of Jehovah's Witnesses. In 1969 he met and became friends with Gladys Stevens. was also a life-long Cincinnati resident and faithful fellow Christian. They had many things in common, including a love of people and dancing. They married on September 26, 1970. Happily, three children were born soon thereafter: Erika, Natasha, and Richard III. During this time "Dick," (as RL was known then) began selling cars. He enjoyed this career very much as it allowed him to wear nice suits, drive new cars and generally be a "people" person. For years he was widely recognized as the tall black car salesman in the Jake Sweeney television commercials. and provided them support from their physical and spiritual family. Tragedy struck in 1984 when Gladys suddenly died. Richard (as RL was known then) and his young children were devastated. However, Jehovah God comforted them with the hope of a resurrection. They were so grateful. Having received such timely support himself, RL made sure he took time to visit the sick and elderly. He felt especially empathetic to the plight of single parent families. He was generous with his time and resources. Even in the weeks before his terminal diagnosis, he could be found encouraging loved ones in the hospital. RL was diagnosed with Stage IV bile duct cancer on November 10, 2017. During the last six weeks of his life, he was visited by many friends and family members. He would want to be remembered as a loyal husband, father, and friend. He enjoyed making people laugh and somehow managed to illustrate most things in life, saying, "it's like a car." If there was a dance party, you would probably find RL on his long legs gliding around. Oh, let's not forget his love of sports. Most of all, by whatever name you may have met him under -- Ricky, Rick, Dick, Slam, Richard, RL -- you always knew he wanted to make a good name with Jehovah. He was willing to serve in whatever assignment he was given; even spending two weeks at the Pioneer Service School in 2012. Surely some of his final, peaceful thoughts were of his future life in Paradise with his best friend Gladys busily working together forever. RL was preceded in death by his parents, wife, and brother Caesar. He is survived by his daughters Erika (Pete), Natasha (Jesse), son Rick, and grandchildren, Tymolyn, Peter, Justin, MacKenna, and Jillian; his brothers, Stuart, Lance, John; sisters, Cheryl and Geneva along with a host of cousins, nieces, nephews and friends. Memorial Service

JAN 20. 2:00 PM (ET)

Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses

2290 Westwood Northern Blvd.

Cincinnati, OH 45225