Richard Stusser is remembered as forthright man

Richard "Dick" Stusser was a straight shooter who looked friends, family, strangers - even death itself - right in the eye and told it like it was.

He died peacefully Thursday (Nov. 2) at the Kline Galland Home in Seattle. He was 71.

Mr. Stusser was born with an open heart valve, a condition that stunted his development so severely that he had trouble walking up stairs. Doctors said he wouldn't live to be 20.

Such a youth left him with a strong streak of fearlessness, said his sons, Daniel and Laurence Stusser.

In 1949, some of the first open-heart surgeries were being performed by a Seattle doctor, and the procedure could help remedy Mr. Stusser's troubles. But nine of the first 10 people to undergo the surgery had died.

With that ringing endorsement, Mr. Stusser, then 20, was told he could be No. 11.

Mr. Stusser chose to play the odds, grim as they were. And he lived.

After the surgery, Mr. Stusser grew several inches, gained strength for the first time and proceeded to go on with his life.

But his experience facing death stayed with him.

In 1950, he wanted desperately to serve with his buddies in the Korean War. "He wanted to be a man," Laurence Stusser said. "Because he had always been so sickly."

But the armed forces rejected Mr. Stusser because of his medical history. So he signed on with the Seattle Police Reserves, a group of people who served as volunteer officers.

He loved police work, but his wife, Pauline, whom he had married in 1954, didn't want him policing.

"My mom made him quit," Laurence Stusser said.

Mr. Stusser also worked in the clothing-retail business.

In 1965 he signed on with the H.D. Lee company, makers of Lee jeans.

In 1972, Mr. Stusser started his own business, Sample World, right across from the Public Safety Building in downtown Seattle. There, Mr. Stusser would "sell socks to the guys when they got sprung from the jail," Laurence Stusser said.

In 1977, he opened Frugelman's, a store in downtown Seattle that sold men's suits. He worked there until he closed the business in 1984, opting for retirement and "tinkering."

Mr. Stusser was a man known for his amiable forthrightness.

"He could give you the truth with a smile, whether you wanted to hear it or not," said his daughter, Terri Schuster.

He was also a proud Jew, a strong supporter of the American Heart Association and a devoted father.

His sons recall being taken along on Mr. Stusser's sales trips when they were young.

"He taught us how to look a man in the eye and to shake hands with a firm grip, and not to hem and haw when somebody asked a question," Daniel Stusser said.

"If our hair was out of place he'd spit on his hand and slick our hair down," said Laurence Stusser. "He was like that."

At the age of 67, Mr. Stusser underwent bypass surgery because of clogged arteries. He suffered multiple strokes during the operation.

"The hard part was the last four years when he was so sick and in the nursing home," said Pauline Stusser. "Now I feel that he's free."

And even though Mr. Stusser had dropped off the radar during the past four years, more than 200 people attended his funeral yesterday.

Besides his wife and children, Mr. Stusser is survived by his sister and brother-in-law, Shirley and Joseph Feldman of Seattle.

Remembrances may be made to the Kline Galland Home, 7500 Seward Park Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98118, or the American Heart Association.

Eli Sanders' phone message number is 206-748-5815. His e-mail address is esanders@seattletimes.com.