Ronald Lee Freed passed away on Monday, July 14, 2014.
Funeral services were to be held on Wednesday, July 16, at Mount Moriah & Freeman Funeral Home & Cemetery South. The family suggests contributions to the National Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases Association, 2001 Beacon Street, Ste. 204, Boston, MA 02135 or The Jewish Genetic Disease Consortium, 450 West End Avenue #6A, New York, NY 10024.
Ron was born in St. Joseph, Mo., on June 7, 1935. He grew up there, graduating from Central High School. He ran track and was a member of the football team. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1959 with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy.
Ron spent a short time working in St. Joseph with his father, Sammy, also a pharmacist and owner of Sammy’s Drugs at 10th and Frederick Ave, before moving to Kansas City. After working at several local pharmacies, in 1964 he decided to open his first pharmacy with a friend, Clarence Winer. The two bought President Garden Drugs, which was located at 82nd and Troost. President Gardens was a full-line drug store, offering such things as soup, nuts, gifts and tobacco; it even had a soda fountain. Four years later he bought out his partner, and in 1973 moved to 85th and Holmes Road and changed the name of the pharmacy to Freed’s Pharmacy. In 1981, he moved the pharmacy to 103rd and Wornall Road, and in 1984 moved to College Blvd. and Lamar in Overland Park.
In 1992, the pharmacy served about 6,200 nursing home residents in 57 nursing homes, and had annual sales of $9 million. It employed 80 people, including Ron’s mother, Dora, who served as bookkeeper and did the payroll each week. In 1993, he sold the pharmacy to Omnicare, Inc., an NYSE company. At the time, his pharmacy was the largest nursing home pharmacy in Kansas. He worked as a consultant for Omnicare for a few years and then retired for a short time. Finding retirement distasteful, in 2003 he purchased a company called Kisses from Heaven, changed the name to Touch for Life, LLC, and managed that company for the next several years.
Ron married Valerie Leibowitz of Atchison, Kan., in August of 1958. Together they had three children: Randy, Amy and Julie. Amy tragically passed away from Tay-Sachs disease just after she turned 2 years old in June of 1963. After he and Valerie divorced in 1987, he met and later married Ann Summerour.
Ron was known for his loving spirit, his good friends (many from his high school days in St. Joseph and his college days in Oklahoma), and his generosity toward his employees at the pharmacy. He paid his employees a holiday bonus each Christmas, even when times were difficult and finances were tight. He was a hard-working, kind, loyal, gentle-hearted man, who loved his family very much.
Ron was preceded in death by his daughter Amy in 1963; his father Sammy in 1975; and his mother Dora in 2001.
He leaves ex-wives, Valerie Freed of Overland Park and Ann Freed of Venice, Fla.; a son and daughter-in-law, Randy and Dini Freed of Overland Park; a daughter and son-in-law, Julie Freed and Paul Clark of Ashland, Ore.; two granddaughters, Arianna Marshank of Ashland and Evie Freed of Overland Park. He also leaves a sister and brother-in-law, Lynne and Morris Faiman of Overland Park; an aunt and uncle, Manya and Saul Manski of Lake Worth, Fla., and a special friend, Kathy Coggins.
Condolences may be shared at http://www.dignitymemorial.com.
Arr: Mount Moriah & Freeman Funeral Home, 816-942-2004.