Dodgeville / Potosi – The Reverend Father Richard John “Dick” Leffler, age 74, died from complications of pulmonary embolism on Friday, July 31, 2026.

We knew him as ‘Dick’. He was our brother. But to thousands of others in Wisconsin, he was ‘Father’.

He was born to Ray and Margaret (Mulcahy) Leffler on November 8, 1951 in Dodgeville, the third of their seven children, in Dodgeville, WI. He attended St. Joseph’s Catholic grade school and Dodgeville High School. He was called to the priesthood and continued his education at U.W.- Platteville and Edgewood College and St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee where he earned his Master of Divinity. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Cletus F. O’Donnell on May 26, 1978 at St. Raphael Cathedral in Madison.

For almost 50 years he served the Catholic communities of Wisconsin, from Beloit in the south, to Plain and Portage north, as far east as Sun Prairie and finally as far west as the Mississippi River communities of Potosi and Tennyson, where he remained for 28 years.

He retired on July 1, 2023, returning full time to the family home in Dodgeville, which he’d purchased years before at the death of his father. Over many years, on his days off, he fully restored and remodeled the old house, as he learned and developed the skills of a carpenter. The family home was his retreat, his workshop, his library and a central gathering place. Dick’s house was a home to us all.

He loved learning even though it didn’t come easy for him, but he worked hard at it; he had a course of Latin in college, but chose to study Hebrew as well. He read extensively, especially American history. He enjoyed traveling, making two pilgrimages to the Holy Land, once just before ordination and the second as a kick-off to his retirement years. He was a sports fanatic, as long as it was the parish grade school athletic teams he was supporting. He liked to fish, he liked to nap, he wrote poetry, he learned the guitar, he loved to dance, he never rushed, he always had time, he took people just as they came to him, he listened, he offered compassion and challenge in equal measure, he worked hard at his job, he teased friends and family relentlessly but only in the kindest of ways, he was funny and generous with us all. We loved him. To the people he pastored, he was beloved.

Dick was our brother. We knew him as his parishioners never did, but they knew him in ways we never will.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Ray and Margaret (Mulcahy) Leffler, his sister, Alice Leffler and his brother Gene Leffler.

He will be lovingly remembered by his sister Jane Clay (David) of Pflugerville, TX; his brothers, William Bauer-Leffler (Ann) of Platteville, Donald Leffler (Melanie) of Dodgeville and Michael Leffler of Boscobel; many nieces and nephews and their children; his brother priests, Fr. John Meinholz and Monsignor Jim Gunn, and of course the thousands of individuals he encountered and blessed through his ministry.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, August 10. 2026 at ST. JOSEPH’S CATHOLIC CHURCH, 305 E Walnut St, Dodgeville, WI 53533. The Most Reverend Donald J. Hying, Bishop of Madison will celebrate the Holy Mass, with the Reverend Father John Meinholz, as homilist. A visitation will be held from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 9, 2026, where a Rosary will be said at 12:40 p.m. and from 9:00 a.m. until 10:45 a.m. on Monday, August 10,2026 at ST. JOSEPH’S CATHOLIC CHURCH in Dodgeville.

Burial will be held in St. Joseph Cemetery in Dodgeville with a luncheon to follow at St. Joseph Parish School.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that memorials be made to St. Joseph’s School Trust Fund, 305 E Walnut St, Dodgeville, WI 53533.

Dance in Peace, Dick.