Richard Victor Klipp

Richard Victor Klipp has passed on November 25, 2025, in Poughkeepsie, NY.

He was born September 4, 1942, in Brooklyn, NY to Helen Zakowski and William F. Klipp.

Growing up in Ridgewood Queens, he was very proud to be a member of the Garity Knights semi-professional football team where he played on the 1959 Junior championship team. And while he would tell you he spent most of his time on the bench, newspaper accounts of the time tell a different story. The friendships he made on that team continued for the rest of his life with weekly Zoom meetings keeping each of them updated on the various successes and failures that come along with a life well-lived.

And it was a life well-lived. He had a story for anything and to know him was to know that there was no embellishment. He had an innate ability to talk about hitchhiking across the country, or riding freight trains in California, or even loading A&P trucks in Queens, all while making it seem like it was just another day.

He married the love of his life, Janet Bagdon, on September 4, 1965, in Queens, NY. For the next 60 years they built a home full of love. He was heartbroken when she predeceased him on February 6, 2025.

Rich graduated from Castleton College in Vermont with a master's degree in education. After moving back to New York and settling in Fishkill, he began work as a special education teacher for 30 years in the Newburgh City School District. He loved teaching and his students. Family members recall that on many occasions he would have his students over his house to swim in the pool and eat hamburgers and hot dogs.

And while he was a teacher by day, he was a businessman by night, running a very successful office cleaning business.

Rich was a man with a huge heart and a love of life. He enjoyed talking to strangers, whether it was in the street, on a line at the bank or to someone sitting near him at the beach in Nags Head, NC, which was his favorite place to be. Those strangers often became his friends.

He loved his family more than anything. He was happiest being around his sons and daughter and especially watching his four grandchildren all grow and have lives of their own. They were his favorite topics of conversation.

Rich was predeceased by his parents and two brothers, William C. Klipp and John L. Klipp.

He is survived by his children, Jondavid (Ruth) Klipp, Elisabeth (Michael) Todd, and Jens Klipp; grandchildren Liam Todd, Haley Todd, Harrison (Victoria) Klipp, Travis Klipp and fiancé Sarah McCall; sister, Kathleen Von Braunsberg; sister-in-law Constance Klipp, and nieces and nephews.