Capt. Rick Ogle of "Mr. B II" passed on to the great blue waters on New Years Day after a valiant battle with cancer.
The first I knew of it was when he called me from his hospital room in Caracas to say he needed to get home as quick as possible. He'd been bleeding internally for almost a week before being rushed to the hospital. I got him on the first flight back to Orlando, 24 Oct, and the boat owner , Robert Browning, got him over to the VA Hosp in Gainesville the same night.
It was determined to be a cancer tumor on the kidney, which is normally operable, exc Rick wasn't strong enough (blood loss) to survive the surgery. So they gave him massive transfusions, then put him on chemo pills and sent him home. I last spoke with him two weeks ago and he was upbeat about it.
Then my good buddy Capt. Flash Clark sent me an email on Saturday to tell me that our best buddy died the day before.
Cremation has taken place and if you'd like to sign the guestbook, here's the link http://www.baldwinbros.net
Just click on his name and leave your condolences.
Rick was a great friend, loved by Renee for many years, tho they weren't married, it was like they were. Always a friendly face, first to greet you in a foreign port. Had a wonderfully deep voice, that put you right at ease - always willing share information and fishing techniques and he made a great meatloaf! He worked in Guatemala and Brasil for Tim Choate and later for Robert Browning on the 57 Dean Johnson boat called Mr. B II in Venezuela, PR and the DR.
He will be missed - a memorial service at the hospice is on Sunday. The information on the guest book.
