Monday, March 17, 2025
Richard “Dick” Torykian, a Rockville Centre native and a central figure in the Chaminade High School community, died on Jan. 10, at age 85. He lived in Rockville Centre until 2017, when he moved to San Diego to be closer to his family.
Born on Sept. 26, 1939, to Paul and Dora Torykian, Richard was the youngest of three siblings. He attended St. Agnes Cathedral School, in Rockville Centre, and then Chaminade, in Mineola.
“When he walked into the room, you knew he was there,” Brother Thomas Cleary, president of Chaminade, said of Torykian. “It was a bigger-than-life personality, and he had a heart bigger than that.”
Torykian graduated from Chaminade in 1957, and went on to St. Michael’s College, in Vermont, where he earned a bachelor’s in chemistry, and Saint Joseph’s University, in Pennsylvania, where he completed a master’s. He was drafted to go to Vietnam, opted to join the Marines, and served in the 3rd Marine Division in Vietnam in 1965 and 1966. He had “an illustrious career in military,” according to Cleary, and was honorably discharged with the rank of captain at the end of his service.
“He was a friend beginning in Chaminade HS where we received an amazing education that sent us on the right track for the rest of our lives,” John Varol, a friend of Torykian’s, wrote on the Dignity Memorial funeral home website’s tribute wall. “His obituary tells the story of his big heart and his commitment to everyone he met.”
When Torykian returned to the United States, he earned an MBA from Adelphi University, and went on to work in business, with a career focused on fixed-income securities sales. Never straying from his duty of service, he mentored countless young people who sought careers in finance.
A Catholic Knight of Malta and Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, Torykian served as chairman of the 50th Mercy Ball for Friends of Mercy Hospital, and was a founding member of several organizations, including the Council of Institutional Investors and the St. Michael’s College Founders Club.
His philanthropic efforts have had a major impact on the lives of veterans and first responders. In 1995 he co-founded the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation, which has provided over $93 million in scholarships and support to more than 4,800 children of fallen first responders and military personnel. He was also instrumental in acquiring the USS Growler for the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum in New York City.
Richard and his wife, Mary Lou, raised three sons — Eric, Richard and James — in Rockville Centre, and sent all three to Chaminade. Over the years, he “rekindled” his relationship with the school, Cleary said, and he played a key role in starting the Torch Fund, the school’s endowment.
“When I think of this now, and look back on his extraordinary life of service to not only this country, but his family and his church,” Cleary said, “he was someone who not only walked the walk, but he did what he said he wanted to do, and if he felt passionate about something, he was vocal about it and supported it.”
A funeral mass for Torykian was held on Jan. 15 at St. James Catholic Church in Solana Beach, California. He was buried at the Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations to the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation, at mc-lef.org/donate, or the Chaminade Torch Fund, at Chaminade-HS.org/support/makeagift.
