Richard Walsh Tobin

Richard W. Tobin
October 14, 1937 – December 24, 2020
Pinecrest, Florida
He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and grew up in Akron, graduating from Buchtel High School before going to Ohio State University. While at Ohio State, he met Karen Howey, and fell in love on a blind date and they married on a snowy day in Columbus, December 26, 1960.
In 1961, Richard determined that a snowflake should never alight upon his head again and knew that if he could make it in Miami he would never leave. He and Karen moved to Miami, with Richard completing an MBA at the University of Miami while working as a graduate teaching assistant.
After adventures in Colombia creating lumbering and sawmill operations, he joined National Airlines as the Director of Planning beginning his successful career in Economics and Marketing Research. He became President and CEO of First Research in 1968 and then founded Strategy Research Corporation on St. Patrick’s Day in 1971. He built SRC into an international company headquartered in Miami with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro serving multinational businesses and government agencies, with worldwide research, media research, strategic planning services and specializing in U.S. Hispanic market research and forecasting. SRC published biannual Hispanic and Latin American market studies with comparative economic, population, cultural research and opinion polling for over 30 years. These publications contained business critical comparative economic, population spanning over 30 years. His spirited entrepreneurial drive led him to charter banks, develop auto related businesses and found New Miami Magazine.
A leukemia diagnosis in 1995 forced him to sell his beloved Strategy Research Corporation and retire to concentrate on his health. His faith and lifelong positive spirit coupled with innate grit and determination gave him the ability to survive. “Press On” was his motto and he firmly believed that persistence and determination are omnipotent.
Richard was acknowledged and honored for his pioneering recognition and research in the diverse Hispanic population of the U.S. and Latin America and was awarded:
2004 Lifetime Achievement Award   AHAA (Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies)
1995 entered Hispanic Hall of Fame   Se Habla Español
1991 Proclamation from Dade County, Florida recognized his visionary efforts with the Hispanic Market beginning in the late 1960s.
His community service efforts include Dade County Planning Advisory Board, Performing Arts Trust, Consultant to the Jewish Federation, Head of the Archbishop’s Charities Drive for two years, a member of the Coral Reef Yacht Club, Matheson Hammock Yacht Club and served as Commodore of Les Cheneaux Yacht Club.
He loved being on the water and was never without a boat – sail or power. A serious sports fisherman with experiences worldwide winning numerous offshore tournaments in South Florida and was most proud of his tag and release 1,000 lb + Black Marlin caught off the Barrier Reef in Australia.
For the past 35 years, Richard and Karen have enjoyed the family summer cottage built in 1914 by his grandfather in Hessel, Michigan. There they enjoy their collection of antique cars and wooden boats.
He and his son Rick wrote a popular book entitled “Collecting Cars for Fun and Profit” and they maintain and restore classic cars and boats in their facility in Hessel. He enjoyed their hunting camp where family and friends participate in hunting, or skeet shooting at the Sportsman’s Club close by.
Richard had a great respect for history and cultures around the world. After his retirement he and Karen continued their love of travel and adventure. He was proud of the fact that he had worked in or visited 115 countries.
Most importantly Richard always believed, since early childhood, that his closest friend was God. It is a firm belief that God did not ask him if he were ready to go, because he would have said that he still had a lot of things to accomplish.
In a life punctuated by its successes, perhaps Richard’s greatest success was in his ‘old-school’ devotion to his family and close friends. His gregarious nature and keen mind made him memorable to friends, business associates and strangers alike.
He was preceded in death by his parents Richard and Mildred, sisters Jean Hart and Sheila Walker and brother, Thomas Tobin.
He is survived by the love of his life, his wife of 60 years, Karen, their son Rick (wife Alessandra), son Martin (partner Tassos Pappas), grandson Sean (fiancée Erika Campbell), grandson Patrick, sister Kathy Corbin and nieces Julie Ennis & Tara Corbin.
Please visit the Stanfill Funeral Home website: https://www.stanfillfh.com/tributes/Richard-Tobin for information. Services to be scheduled in Miami, Florida and in Hessel, Michigan. Email dicktobinmemorial@gmail.com to send condolences and be put on an email list for services and memorial updates.

Funeral Mass will be held on Saturday, 1/9/2021 at 12 noon at St. Louis Catholic Church, PInecrest, FL.

If you are not able to attend the service in person, you may watch via this live-streaming link https://stlcatholic.org/live-feed/.