Richard Lonson Furnier, age 93, of Canton, Michigan, passed away peacefully on March 15. Richard was born on August 21, 1931 in Detroit, MI to Lonson and Lilian (Frammalino) Furnier.

After winning 1st prize in a drafting contest in high school, Richard was recruited into the Ford Motor Company Engineering Program and then dedicated his entire forty-year career to the company's Body Engineering and Design Center, manually drafting car designs and retiring just as computers began to be used.

Richard was a voracious reader of classic literature, and a lover of classical music, owning a sizeable collection of recordings. He was a patron of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for many years.

Richard was a diehard University of Michigan fan and after retirement worked as a docent at the Towsley Sports Museum. He loved the Detroit Institute of Art and spent some time as a docent there as well.

In his 80s, Richard developed a love for writing and took several college courses to improve his skills. He even won 1st Prize in an essay contest writing about his firsthand impressions of America’s campaign against Japan in WWII. He has said "No one has seen so much historical progress than my generation". Richard was born during the Great Depression and lived to see the start of television, the atom bomb, organ transplants, man walking on the moon, and the internet.

Richard is survived by sons Glenn (Aida) and Kenneth (Juliet) along with grandson Grant and step grandchildren Madison Melton Stolarczyk (Pavel), and Dylan Melton (Katie).

A private gathering with family and friends to celebrate Richard’s life will be held on a future date. Arrangements entrusted to McCabe Funeral Home, Canton.

Richard would be pleased for any tribute in his name be sent to the Penrickton Center for Blind Children, 26530 Eureka Rd., Taylor, MI 48180.