Richard Cihak, 84, a retired lithographer for Continental Can, died Sunday, March 3, of complications from Parkinson’s disease in Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove. Born in Chicago, Mr. Cihak was attending Farragut High School when he quit to help his family financially. He briefly worked for a furniture company before he started his long career at Continental Can as a lithographer. “He tried to enlist in the war, but the company was making the cans for rationing and they wouldn’t let him go,” said his daughter Judith Newcomb. At the end of his 39-year career, he was the supervisor of the department, Newcomb said. He married Alice Samec in 1940, and the couple moved to Lyons. In 1953 they settled in Westchester. Several times a year, Mr. Cihak, an avid fisherman, went to Minnesota, where he owned a small cabin. “Fishing was his joy. But there were always those stories about the one that got away,” his daughter said. He also hunted deer and moose. In 1978, after Mr. Cihak’s retirement, the couple moved to Florida. While there he was active in the Illinois Club in Florida. Four years ago, after his wife’s death, he moved to Downers Grove and stayed with another daughter. Other survivors include daughter Dorine Sievers; two sons, Richard and Charles; a sister, Irene McGowan; 11 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Visitation will be held from 2 to 7 p.m. Wednesday in Adams-Winterfield and Sullivan Funeral Home, 4343 Main St., Downers Grove.
