Richard O. Kwapil Jr.

Richard O. Kwapil - known as "Buzz" to his friends - was a longtime Reno attorney whose legal career spanned more than four decades. A graduate of Reno High School in 1956, he earned a BSC from the University of Santa Clara in 1960 and a law degree from the University of California Hastings College of Law in 1963, where he served on the Law Review.

Admitted to the Nevada bar in 1963, Buzz became a member of the Woodburn and Wedge law firm in Reno, where he practiced from 1963 until his retirement in 2005. Often referring to himself as "just a country lawyer," he served for the last 30 years of his practice as attorney for the Catholic Diocese of Reno-Las Vegas, representing the Church throughout the entire state.

A devout Catholic, philanthropist, and world traveler, he founded and served as Chairman and President of the Leonette Foundation, a philanthropy supporting innovative medical and assistance programs for needy seniors and deprived children in Northern Nevada. In 2005, Pope Benedict conferred on him the Papal Award Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in recognition of a life of exemplary service to the Catholic Church and the public, and he was a Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, holding the rank of Knight of the Grand Cross. He passed away on April 18, 2012, at the age of 73.