ELMORE, Ohio -—Richard E. Claar, who became mayor of Elmore after owning a business and serving on council in the Ottawa County village where he grew up, died Monday at home. He was 66.

He’d had bronchitis for about two weeks, but the cause of death was not known, said Jackie Rober, his significant other of 17 years. 

Mr. Claar was village president when he became Elmore’s mayor in 2019, succeeding Matthew Damschroder, who resigned. Mr. Claar was first elected to council in 2001. 

“Rick was a cheerleader. Everything he did was around making the village better,” said Tom Jackson, who was council president and succeeded Mr. Claar as mayor this week. “He was a person who wanted to engage with people. We worked quite well together.

“He always had a smile, even if he was frustrated,” Mr. Jackson said. “There were times we didn’t agree, but we agreed to disagree. I respected him for that.”

Mr. Claar at his death was president of the Elmore Historical Society. He was a former president of the Elmore Chamber of Commerce and president of the village’s sesquicentennial committee in 1998. For several years, he ran an old-fashioned five-and-10-cent store, complete with candy counter, that later mostly sold antiques.

“Pure and simple, he was Mr. Elmore,” Ms. Rober said. “He was a big old teddy bear, always willing to help people.”

In recent years, he worked for the Woodmore school district as a bus aide and lunchroom and recess monitor.

“By the second week of school, he would know all the kids by their first names,” Ms. Rober said.

The district in a post Tuesday on Facebook said, “We will miss Mr. Rick, as the kids called him, very much here at Woodmore. He had a huge heart which he used everyday to help with our kids...He cared about Woodmore Local Schools and our community with an unparalleled passion.”

He and Ms. Rober enjoyed outings at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge to observe eagles, beavers, and other animals.

He was born June 30, 1955, to Marilyn and Jack Claar. He was a graduate of Woodmore High School, where he was known as Ranger Rick, the roving reporter of the student newspaper, said Mike Netz, who grew up with Mr. Claar. He later had reporting assignments for area weekly newspapers.

“He had an interest in journalism, and he was good at it,” Mr. Netz said. 

He worked for the lime products plant in Woodville and for the machining firm, Atlas Industries. He bought his former wife, Paula, a horse when they were dating. The horse happened to be the type used in harness racing, “so he thought he might as well drive too,” Paula Bachman said.

He competed at Raceway Park in Toledo, and also in Cleveland and Erie, Pa., in addition to county fairs around Ohio. He later ran the tack shop at Raceway Park.

He and his former wife remained friends, and he befriended her husband, Rick Bachman. He, Ms. Rober, and the Bachmans went to Cedar Point and camping together. To the Bachmans’ daughter, Melissa, he was “Uncle Ricky. She would call him and talk to him,” Mrs. Bachman said. “I have so many memories. He was the best guy in the world.”

Also surviving is his brother, Don Claar. 

Visitation will be from 2-8 p.m. Friday at Crosser & Priesman Funeral Home, Elmore-Genoa Chapel. Funeral services will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Woodmore High School gym in Elmore.

The family suggests tributes to the Elmore Historical Society or the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge.

First Published December 3, 2021, 5:00 a.m.