Robert R. Reich

Robert R. Reich, entrepreneur and inventor, formerly of Odessa, Mo., died at a Henderson, Nevada, hospital on February 2, 2009 after a brief illness. He was 73. The family will receive friends at the Ralph O. Jones Funeral Home at Odessa, Mo., on Friday, February 20 from 5:00-8:00 p.m. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 21 at the First United Methodist Church, Odessa, at 10:30 a.m. A native of the Kansas City, Mo., area, Reich moved to Odessa, Mo., in 1971 and founded Reich Mushrooms, Inc., where he led the business, together with his wife, for the next 13 years. He then went on to found a second company, Triple R Designs, to successfully invent, design and market a revolutionary size-sorting machine throughout the United States and Europe. He received a U.S. patent for his invention in 1982. He retired to the Las Vegas, Nev., area in 2002. Reich is survived by his wife, Carolann Reich, and his three children, Jeffery Reich, Berlin, Germany; Elizabeth Ann Dowell, Odessa, Mo.; and Greg Reich of Henderson, Nev.; and his six grandchildren, Brooklyn, August, Olivia and Truman Reich of Henderson, Nev.; and Alana and Dawson Dowell of Odessa, Mo. He was preceded in death by his parents, Mildred N. Reich and Robert O. Reich, and by his brother, Steven Reich. His family request that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to the First Methodist Church of Odessa, or the New Horizon Presbyterian Church of Odessa.