Richard Ross Costa Sr.

Richard Ross Costa Sr., 84, of Burlingame California, peacefully passed away on October 27, 2022 of natural causes. Richard was born on May 4, 1938 to Catherine and Harry Costa Senior in South San Francisco. After Richard graduated from South City High School in 1955, he went on to study as a chemical engineer at San Mateo College. A veteran of the Army, he was recruited as a cryptologist and stationed in Alaska with the highest security clearance. Once discharged he worked as an Engineer at the Richmond Chemical plant. Richard held many different jobs from parking cars to selling Fuller Brush door to door and finally starting Custom Office Supply with his deceased brother Harry Costa Junior. He purchased the business in 1980 and renamed it Costa’s Office Supply and added Computers to his product line. With the success of the computer business, he spun it off in 1982 and created Costa Distributing to become one of the pioneers in the network computer industry. Richard grew Costa Distributing to a nationwide company with facilities in six states eventually selling the business in 1992 and retiring.

In 1961 Richard had his first-born Deborah shortly followed by Regina 1963 and Richard Junior in 1964. Richard entered into his second marriage to Linda Cabbiness in 1998, at their house in South Lake Tahoe, one of Richard’s favorite places. Upon retiring he traveled the world to places like Egypt, China, Japan, Australia, but Italy was his favorite as he got to visit his relatives in his family's hometown of Pianzano. In Richard’s younger life he was an excellent Bowler, adding many trophies to his collection. Richard's passion was his football and the biggest 49’er supporters holding season tickets for over 50 years. He was the king of the tailgate. Richard loved throwing parties and the fourth of July being one of his best.