The Rev. Richard Robert Boyer, 90, died July 25, 2021. He was the husband of Emily (Peknik) Whitman, the late Ruth Eileen Trexler and the late Joan (Hansen) Neumann.

Born in Columbus, Ohio, he was a son of Ralph A. Jr. and Elsie E. (Long) Boyer.

He was a 1948 graduate of Muhlenberg Township High School where he was the class president and was in state chorus. He graduated magna cum laude from Muhlenberg College in 1952. He was a president of the Eta Sigma Phi classical languages fraternity, co-captain of the varsity track team and a member of the pre-theological society.

He studied for a Master of Divinity degree at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and was ordained in 1955. He completed 14 credit hours in sociology at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School and an undergraduate course in Spanish.

When he was 16, he worked eight summers straight selling Fuller Brushes door to door and led the Eastern United States in sales in August 1954.

He was pastor of the Lutheran congregation in Berisso, Argentina, and started a new Lutheran congregation in La Plata from 1955 to 1957. He was pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Bethlehem, from 1958 to 1972. He was at Trinity Lutheran Church, Bangor, from 1972 to 1985. From 1985 to 1991, he was pastor of the Lutheran parish of Belleman’s and St. Timothy’s, in Mohrsville, and, from 1991 to 1999, at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Mahoning Valley. He retired July 31, 1999, after more than 44 years in ordained ministry.

He was on the board of home missions of the Eastern Pennsylvania Synod, Lutheran Church in America and was on the world missions committee of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod.

He is survived by four children, Michael R. with Linda, the Rev. Timothy D. with Catherine, Deborah L. Buzzard with the Rev. Paul and Rebekah R. McFadden with Sean; 11 grandchildren, Nicholas Boyer, Douglas Boyer, Larissa Newton, Jeremy Boyer, Victoria McKee, Rachel Johnson, Joshua Buzzard, Heidi Kalabisko, Megan Buzzard, Molly McFadden and Bridget McFadden; 11 great-grandchildren, Caleb, Riley, Kadence, Tyler, Hanna, Dylan, Ephraim, Luke, Samuel, Ella and Hazel; and a brother, the Rev. Dr. Ralph A. Boyer III.

Contributions may be made to St. John’s Lutheran Church, 18 S. Third St., Coplay, 18037; and/or St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, 529 St. Michaels Road, Hamburg, 19526; or any of the churches he served.

Arrangements were made by Stitzel Family Funeral Homes and Crematory Inc., Laureldale.