Richard Douglas Croul

August 4, 1928 - July 29, 2019 After enjoying a lifetime of playing and working outdoors, Richard Croul succumbed to a rare form of skin cancer called Merkel cell carcinoma. He died just short of his 91st birthday in the Victorian home he built himself in Corona del Mar. Though born in Hartford, Connecticut, he was a California boy at heart. Moving to San Marino before he was two, he and his 3 brothers spent most summers at the beach in San Clemente. Richard graduated from South Pasadena San Marino High School and attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo before working as a cowboy for the Irvine Company.Despite growing up just a few blocks from each other, Richard met his beloved wife of 65 years, Jane, in Heidelberg, Germany. He was on the Army ski team and she was on a post college tour of Europe. They married in 1954 and moved to Corona del Mar. Weekends were spent on Newport Bay or bodysurfing at Big Corona. Richard spent long weekdays running his company, Surf Construction. He also served on the Newport Beach City Council from 1970 to 1974. After many adventures camping in the family motorhome, Richard decided to build his own campground in Northern California. He dug out a five-acre lake for bass fishing and was left with a big hill of dirt. After a day of sliding downstream on nearby natural river rocks, he was inspired to create a waterfall on that hill, then a slide for the campers. After much experimenting, he created the world's first recreational waterslide and an industry was born. He went on to build many more waterslides and parks in the U.S. and internationally in Singapore, Japan, Mexico, Spain and India. These and the local waterpark, Wild Rivers, brought happiness to millions.Between waterslides, he could be found indulging his passion for skiing in Aspen, Mammoth or Utah. At the age of 83, he skied 60 days in one year at Mammoth, his record. Sadly, a broken femur stopped him skiing at 86 years old.Richard always loved a party, preferably themed. His favorite party however was a booze cruise on the bay with friends, family and his always game first mate, Jane. They spent many happy afternoons and evenings entertaining anyone who dared climb aboard, first the African Queen, then the Balboa, the New Balboa and finally the Baliboa, the carved wooden boat Richard designed and had built in Bali. What his vessels lacked in seaworthiness, they made up for in style. He was, no doubt, the longest running private entrant in Newport's annual Character Boat Parade. He was quite the character himself. Richard is survived by his wife, Jane and three daughters, Leah Fletcher (David), Laura O'Reilly (Rory), and Sara Alex, his brothers, Jack and Jim, predeceased by Ed, grandchildren Daniel (Christa), Holly, Amelia (Ryan), Hannah, Taylor, Jackson and Lindsay, and his great granddaughters Hazel and Lola. He was loved and will be missed by many others.Richard represented the very best of California; freedom, creativity, originality, entrepreneurship, earthiness, love of water, love of family and a rare form of zany pragmatism. He enjoyed life to its fullest and taught others to enjoy it by example. We are all the better for having known him.