Richard “Dick” Martin Pesonen

Published November 27, 2023 at 3:07 PM
Duluth News Tribune

June 10, 1938 - November 3, 2023

Richard “Dick” Martin Pesonen, 85, passed away on Friday, November 3, 2023, in Boca Raton, Florida.

Born on June 10, 1938, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, the oldest child of Martin Pesonen and Marcia Egerdahl.

Dick graduated from Proctor High School and then went on to play football for the University of Minnesota Duluth. In 1993 he was inducted into the UMD Athletic Hall of Fame. He was drafted in 1960 to play for Vince Lombardi at the Green Bay Packers and was traded the following year to the Minnesota Vikings for their expansion year in 1961. After that he was traded to the NY Giants where he played for three seasons. After his playing career he went into various coaching positions and ended up in Orlando, Florida as head coach for the Orlando Panthers where he met his wife, Bobbie LeVan. They had one daughter, Tiffany Pesonen Liff, who they raised in Orlando while he helped start the The University of Central Florida’s football program along with Don Jonas. From there he went on to have a long career as a sales representative for a transportation company.

Dick eventually retired and moved to The Villages in central Florida where he lived and played golf often. He was joined by many of his first cousins from Minnesota as well as his brother Gary Egerdahl and his wife, Jackie Egerdahl.

Dick had many great joys in life, among them football, golf, and scotch but the biggest joy of his life was his daughter Tiffany, son-in-law Steve and his two grandchildren, Alex, and Brody. He was infinitely proud of their academic accomplishments as well as reveling in watching both of them compete in their respective sports over the years.

He is preceded in death by his father Martin Pesonen, his mother Marcia Egerdahl, his two brothers Terry and Gary Egerdahl and his nephew Erik Egerdahl. He is survived by his daughter, Tiffany Pesonen Liff (Steve) of Lighthouse Point, his two grandchildren, Alex, and Brody, of Lighthouse Point, his nephew Adam Egerdahl (Jill) of Minneapolis, Minnesota and his mother Chris Westlake of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

There will be a private family service honoring the life of Dick in the Villages and in Minnesota over the coming months. If you would like to honor his life you can contribute to The University of Florida’s brain trauma research center:

MBI Traumatic Brain Injury Fund, McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, 1149 S. Newell Drive, L3-100, Gainesville, FL 32619. Designation: In Memory of Richard Pesonen.