By Nicole Hamilton
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Friends went to Conrad Rief when they needed something done. If he couldn't help, Mr. Rief knew someone who could.

"He knew everybody," said his wife of 36 years, Darlynne, of Anderson Township. "His love of people was matched by his need to serve."

Mr. Rief died Sept. 4 at his Anderson Township home of a heart attack. He was 62.

"He exemplified the St. X 'Men for Others' principle and Mark 9:35, 'If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all,'" said his son, Todd of Denver.

Mr. Rief was born to German immigrants and raised in Fairfax.He graduated from St. Xavier High School when it was located downtown and worked as a caddy and in the locker room at Hyde Park Golf and Country Club.

He went to Ohio State University for a semester before enlisting in the Marines and served in Vietnam.Honorably discharged in 1963, he enrolled at the University of Cincinnati, where he earned his bachelor's degree in political science in 1967.

Mr. Rief used his gift of personality to forge a successful career in sales.

After working for Pitney-Bowes, he started an 18-year career with Control Data Corp., where he became a sales manager.

He left the company about 1987 and worked in sales for a few companies before retiring in the early 1990s.

An avid golfer, Mr. Rief never dwelled on competition.

"He enjoyed being on the beautiful earth among friends," said his wife.

In retirement, he returned to his favorite sport at Terrace Park Country Club, and Ivy Hills Country Club in Newtown.

There, he caddied locally and nationally for renowned golfer, his friend Rick Witt.He also enjoyed sailing.

Always involved in his children's sports, he coached his son's baseball team for 10 years and supported his daughter, Amy Dunlap of Mount Lookout,as a soccer player at Turpin High School and later at the University of Virginia.

Dunlap, now coach of the varsity soccer team at Indian Hill High School, said her father never missed a chance to see her team play.

Mr. Rief was a great lover of animals, especially dogs.

"He would commonly find strays roadside and bring them home and nurse them back to health," said Dunlap.

He was a member of St. John Fisher Parish in Newtown.

Besides his wife, son, and daughter, survivors include three grandchildren.

Services have been held. Burial was in St. Mary's Cemetery, St. Bernard.

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Email: nhamilton@enquirer.com