Obituary of Ralph Arnold Howard, Jr.

Ralph Arnold Howard, Jr

October 12, 1964 - October 21, 2024

With heavy hearts, we announce that our beloved father, son, brother, and grandfather Ralph Arnold Howard, Jr. of Chapel Hill, NC (and formerly of Cocoa, FL) passed away at home on October 21st, 2024 at the age of 60. Diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer in August of 2023, he faced his diagnosis with courage and determination and was able to give his family and loved ones the gift of time together over the past year. 

Ralph leaves behind a host of relatives and friends who continue to love and cherish him dearly, including his mother, Shirlee Todd Howard, sons, Daylland, Devin, Christopher, Ethan and Matthew, a daughter, Shammell, sister, Nicole (James) Howard-Wade and half-sisters, Adrienne (Larry) Blow and Monica Martin, uncles, Walter (Rhonda) Todd and Ernest (Adelena) Todd, an aunt, Hazel Mathis, cousins, Angela Gordon, Ernest, Stuart and Brandon Todd, Morgan (Lamar) Patton, Blaire Todd and Walter Todd, Jr., nieces, Erin (Aaron) Horn, Jasmine Wade and Taryn Blow, nephews Geno and Andre Blow, Dominique Howard and Cameron Wade, a granddaughter, Nora, and his former wife, Karen Allen-Howard, who cared for him through his battle with cancer. Ralph was preceded in death by his father, Ralph Arnold Howard, Sr., maternal grandparents, Ernest Todd and Jessie Crosby and paternal grandparents Gladys Suggs and Joel Howard. He also had a tight circle of friends and colleagues with whom he remained closely connected and whose friendship and kindness were magnified over the past year.

An introspective man who chose his words wisely, Ralph was a respected engineer, health and fitness enthusiast and avid sportsman whose grace, temerity, brilliance and self-discipline were handed down to his sons. He introduced them to his love of basketball early on and would occasionally take one or two along to watch his beloved New Jersey Nets (as they were back then) on a school night, much to their mother’s dismay. He passed on his love for computers and all things tech, comic books and superheroes too, enjoying movie nights and robust discussions about which versions of Spiderman were even worth watching with his boys over the past year as his health declined. Ralph showed his love and adoration of them in ways both big and small, from his support of their dreams and inability to say “No” to anything they wanted to his insistence on making lunch and meal-prepping family dinners long after they could easily have taken on that task themselves. His children knew that they were loved and that was all that mattered to him. 

An intimate celebration of Ralph’s life will be held at The Parlour at Manns Chapel, 175 Poythress Rd., Chapel Hill, NC on Friday, December 6th at 2:30pm. Gifts in Ralph’s memory can be made to Camp Royall, 250 Bill Ash Road, Moncure, NC 27559  https://www.autismsociety-nc.org/camp-royall/. 

The Howard Family