Richard William Sorgel

Richard William Sorgel

Richard “Ric” William Sorgel, of Mission Vejo, California, passed away on July 23, 2023, at the age of 74 years. Ric was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Wiliam and Mary (nee Selby) Sorgel. He is survived by his wife, Linda, his two sons, Kyle and Chase (Erin) Sorgel, and three grandchildren, Peyton, Cooper, and McKenna. He is also survived by his brother, Dave (Collette).

Ric was as passionate as he was curious from an early age. From his early teens to mid-twenties, he played in several bands with friends from Homestead High School: The Coachmen, The Destinations, and Over The Hill Gang. The Beatles were taking over the world with a new form of music, Rock ‘N Roll. Ric, along with his band members, contributed to this trendy take by donning their own Beatle-like bowl haircut (known as mop top) with matching suits, taking aesthetic black and white promo pictures of the band, and having a band name starting with ‘The’.

The Destinations was voted the most popular band in Wisconsin sever times in the late 60’s. They became the house band for the Art Roberts (a WLS DJ) Swinging Majority TV show on Saturday evenings, which hosted any national act in town that week for their concert promo. 1967 was Ric’s favorite year; he would always reminisce about this time in his life.

In Ric’s senior year at Marquette University, he met his future business partner, Brien Lee, who hired him as a photographer for the yearbook. This started Ric’s new passion – photography. Ric and Brien created their first show together with photography and a soundtrack that tried to tell a story. It was a hit, and this sparked the start of a new business called Sorgel Lee Inc. It was a communication firm that specialized in multi-image extravaganza and the occasional business theater stage show. For eighteen years, his companies created multi-media presentations that stopped eyes, grabbed hearts, opened minds, and thrilled audiences worldwide.

Ric’s next career move was to join EWI, Worldwide and bring the power of digital and the magic of photography to unique designs in retail business. He could inspire and enable people to make more intelligent decisions in choosing products and paths for themselves and their future. Along the way Ric won more than 200 national and international awards as an artist and produce in a variety of industries.

Ric met Linda at The Peppermill, a disco, in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. Ric could dance extremely well and was always a dapper dresser. Sparks flew and the rest is history. They married and moved to California in 1987 when Chase and Kyle were 4 and 1 years old.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, November 11, 2023, at Galioto’s Twelve 21 in Cedarburg at 4:00 PM.

For details please contact Tom tadwit@sbcglobal.net or Fred fhadler4@gmail.com