Oct. 14, 2018

Paul Rademacher, 87, died Oct. 14 in his La Crescenta home with family by his side.

Born during the dawn of the Depression on a small failing farm in central South Dakota, Paul’s father Lewis Rademacher supported the family of seven by repairing and selling used farm implements.

Paul enjoyed hunting and fishing with his father. He played on the Hot Springs High School South Dakota football team. During school breaks he worked shoveling coal in a train yard, as a lifeguard at Evans Plunge Hot Springs, a roughneck on an oil derrick, a Wind Cave tour guide and a manual laborer carrying construction lumber up the face of Angostura dam to bring relief from the recent American Dust Bowl and drought.

When Paul graduated from high school, the family moved to Boulder, Colorado where he received bachelor and MBA degrees in marketing and finance from the University of Colorado Boulder. While in college, he was vice president of the School of Business board of directors, commissioner of the ASUC, chapter president of Pi Kappa Alpha, a member of the Catholic Newman Club executive council, national delegate of I.F.C., and a member of the Arnold Air Society. Paul organized numerous college social festivities as well as owning and operating a pizza shop with friends.

As an officer, Paul taught real estate at Keesler AFB in Mississippi and at Warren AFB in Wyoming during which time he married and started a family. Paul then began his more than 30-year career in sales and marketing with Phillips Petroleum retiring after 10 years as the executive director of the Asphalt Council of California and executive director of the Asphalt Paving Association, then teaching university students road construction technology.

Paul leaves his wife Pat Rademacher of La Crescenta; sister Alma McAllister of Hot Springs, South Dakota; six children: Mark Rademacher of Mission Viejo, Lynn Bebenroth of Tujunga, Mary Lopez of Chino Hills, Matt Rademacher of Tucson, Arizona, Gregg Rademacher of La Crescenta, Brian Mazen of Rancho Palo Verdes; and 12 grandchildren.

Funeral service will be held at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, 2411 Montrose Ave. in Montrose at 10 a.m. on Monday, Oct 29. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the priest retirement fund, prfla.org.