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http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20090707/NEWS01/907070323
"Holt grad killed in crash was top designer for LEGO"
Man, 41, was living in Denmark, visiting area with 2 daughters
Melissa Domsic • mdomsic@lsj.com • July 7, 2009 • From Lansing State Journal
HOLT - Richard Siegrist was looking forward to meeting up with old high school
friends Friday night.
But the Holt native, who was visiting from Denmark, died early that morning
after his vehicle crashed into a southside Lansing auto dealership.
"He was just so close to his little girls and was just having such a terrific
time on vacation," his mother, Linda Siegrist, said of her son, a designer for
LEGO.
Siegrist, 41, was a 1986 Holt High School graduate. He moved to Denmark in 1991,
where he was a lead creative designer for LEGO Holding A/S, the Danish toy
building blocks giant.
Siegrist was in Michigan on a four-week vacation with his two daughters,
Christine, 10, and Caroline, 7, said Linda Siegrist, his mother said.
He took the girls camping at Silver Lake, Linda Siegrist said.
Police said Siegrist was driving northbound on Pennsylvania Avenue at about 2
a.m. Friday when his vehicle crashed into a handful of new vehicles parked at
the Glenn Buege Buick Pontiac GMC dealership, 3625 S. Pennsylvania Ave.
Owner Glenn Buege said five new cars at the dealership were hit.
Three were totaled, adding up to about $140,000 in damages.
The accident remains under investigation and toxicology reports are pending,
said Lansing police Lt. Judy Horning.
Fellow Holt High School graduate Tina Kropf, of Phoenix, said she had hoped to
see Siegrist at an informal reunion.
She hadn't seen him since high school, but kept in touch via the Facebook social
networking Web site.
"He was always a nice guy, he'd stand up for anyone he felt they were being
mistreated," Kropf said. "I know that he was a great father to his kids and his
kids are really going to miss him."
Siegrist was the creative lead for the LEGO Mindstorms 2009 project, according
to the company's Web site, working on developing LEGO's latest robotics kit.
LEGO officials did not return calls seeking comment.
"He was very artistic, of course," Linda Siegrist said. "He liked to cook. He
originally worked as a cook for LEGO and worked his way up."
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