Richard Ballas

Richard Ballas, age 39, of Aurora, passed away on Friday, November 13, 2020 at Memorial Hospital of Aurora.
A Memorial Service will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, November 19 at the Aurora United Methodist Church with Pastors Michelle and Greg Reed officiating.  The family will greet friends from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday at the Methodist Church 1104 A St.   Current CDC guidelines will be followed.  Face masks are required.  The service will be livestreamed thru the Aurora United Methodist Church Facebook page.  Memorials may be made to the family to be designated at a later date.  Condolences may be e-mailed to the family through the mortuary website at www.higbymortuary.com.
Richard Leonard Ballas, the son of Leonard and Maria (Clementi) Ballas, was born in Staten Island, New York on Sept. 20, 1981 and passed away at Memorial Hospital, Aurora, on Nov. 13, 2020 at the age of 39.
Rich grew up Staten Island, NY and graduated from Tottenville High School in 1999.  He then went on to attend and graduate from Seton Hall University in 2003 with a Bachelors in business administration with an emphasis in Marketing.  Rich received his Masters in Business Administration from UNL in 2008.  Rich moved to Aurora in 2005.
Rich was united in marriage to Heather Graf on May 20, 2007 at Omaha.  They were blessed with two children, daughter Josephine in 2010 and son Thomas in 2012.   
He started his professional career at Peter Tesoriero CPA PC as an intern.  He then worked for Sam Ash as a Drum Department Manager during college, Peter Tesoriero as a CPA PC as a Staff Accountant, Hamilton Telecommunications as a Staff Accountant. In 2014 Rich and Heather purchased Padgett Business Services from Jay Nylander.
Rich was a former member of the Aurora Rotary Club and was a current member of BNI Business Boosters Heartland in Lincoln.  He enjoyed shooting sports, 600 yard, target and sports clays.  Rich enjoyed music and playing the guitar and teaching his kids to play.  He also loved playing video and board games with his family.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents, John and Mary Clementi and Gus and Helen Ballas.
Those left to cherish his memory are his wife, Heather; daughter, Josephine and son Thomas of Aurora; parents, Leonard and Maria Ballas of Millsboro, Delaware; sister, Kathryn (Jason) Maceda and niece Mary and nephew John of Leesburg, VA; father and mother-in-law, Pat and Marsha Graf of Holdrege; sister-in-law, Angela (Randy) and nieces Mary, Madison and Karson and nephew, Logan of Holdrege; brother-in-law Timothy and nieces Gabrielle and Varia and nephews, Evan and Ian of Kearney; Aunt, Josephine (Dan) Ruckdschel) of Northampton, PA and cousin, Jessica Fernandez and niece Gabriella and nephew George of Stroudsburg, PA.