St. Cloud Fireworks Commissioner Tom Richardson Has Passed Away

(KNSI) – The main driving force behind St. Cloud’s Fourth of July Fireworks celebration has died.

Family and friends learned Fireworks Commissioner Tom Richardson passed away on Saturday. He was 65. Former St. Cloud Fire Chief Bill Mund told KNSI News he met Richardson when he was the assistant chief and had to plan that year’s fireworks show. Mund and Richardson knew each other for nearly 30 years. “He had been a good friend over the years to me and most of the people that worked on the fireworks. Even when we weren’t doing fireworks stuff, Tom and I would occasionaly get out. We both shared a love for golf and we play some golf. He was always available to lend a hand if you needed help for anything.”

Dan “The Ox” Ochsner

He says the two talked weekly. Mund shared a funny story from the early years when Richardson had the idea to launch the fireworks from a barge on the Mississippi River. “My first reaction was, I don’t want to be the person, from a public safety standpoint, in charge of this. And if the barge breaks free and runs down and takes out our dam and power plants. I was like, you’re crazy to do this.”

Mund says, in typical Richardson fashion, he had all of his ducks in a row and all the answers to the questions brought up by public safety officials. St. Cloud has safely launched fireworks from a barge for decades.

St. Cloud Fireworks Committee Chair Jason Bernick explained that Richardson was instrumental in helping board members launch the summer celebration by spearheading the event year after year. “He’s going to be so missed, because, he’s not only a leader for me, and many on the board, he’s a close friend as well. And, we take on the challenges with them, and we just love him for it. It’s a great relationship that we’ve always had, and we will certainly miss him.”

Bernick told KNSI News the show will go on. “We’re organizing a meeting next week. We’re going to try to pull together a plan on how to execute the fireworks. There are a lot of different contacts that have already been made for this year. We just need to keep that going.”

Officials say Richardson appears to have passed away from a medical emergency. No official cause of death has been determined. Funeral arrangements are pending.

The St. Cloud Fireworks Committee is a non-profit organization that works with contributors, vendors, and city and public safety officials throughout the year, organizing venues and activities and all aspects of the pyrotechnic display on the Fourth of July. St. Cloud’s Fourth of July Fireworks is the longest consecutive running and largest city-wide event attended. This year will be St. Cloud’s 77th consecutive fireworks display.

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