Michael Joseph Doka
November 24, 1951 - July 20, 2019
Coto de Caza CA
- Share:
Michael Joseph Doka
November 24, 1951 - July 20, 2019
Coto de Caza CA
Obituary
On July 20, 2019, Michael Joseph Doka, a loving husband, father, and grandfather went home to the Lord at the age of 67. Known to his family and friends as Mike, he was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania on November 24th, 1951. He was the only child born to Michael Doka and Caroline Trinclisti.
Mike received his degree in Mechanical Engineering from Gannon University in 1972, where later in life he was honored with an award for being a Distinguished Alumni. He began his career in 1971 at Rehrig Pacific Company. He received a promotion to Plant Manager and was transferred to Los Angeles in 1977 and continued growing with the company until 1982 when he had the opportunity to attend Stanford University. He received his Master’s from Stanford University in Business in 1983 and was promoted to General Manager in Freemont, California. In 1990 he was promoted to President of Rehrig Pacific Company and came back to the Los Angeles Plant until 2005 where he then continued as Chairman of the Board. He worked for Rehrig for 47 years to help lead, support, and maintain a work environment that is much more of a family environment.
Mike married Ella Mary Pisarcik on January 8, 1972 after convincing her to give him a chance and went on to have three beautiful children; Charity, Michael, and Elizabeth. Mike created a beautiful life for his family full of love, laughter, and adventures with God always being at the center. Mike had a passion for life and for his family. From his trips to Israel and Africa to backyard barbeques with family and friends, Mike always made sure to put God and his family first. He enjoyed golfing with his wife and friends, vacations in Hawaii, and finding ways to laugh with those around him.
Mike was preceded in death by his father Michael, his mother Caroline, and his son Michael. He is survived by his wife Ella; his daughters, Charity and Elizabeth; his sons-in-law, Kevin and Steve; his granddaughter, Taylor; and his grandsons, Kevin, Curtis, and James.
5 responses to Michael Joseph Doka
Gregory Lindner says:
July 25, 2019
RIP It was a pleasure to have known you.
Paul & Lorraine Kamholz says:
July 26, 2019
Mike was a great man and will be missed. He embodied the work hard play hard mantra and made all of us working for him at RPC truly feel like family. God bless you Ella, Charity and Beth, and your families.
Chris Austria says:
July 27, 2019
Rest peacefully my dear friend. You know I, going to miss you. Our conversation. Your lunchtime e is too long for a regular lunch because we talk to much from our family to our health problem you told me we are both so lucky to still be around You rest in peace and I will take of myself for as long as I can. I will miss brining your glass of red wine, crab curry soup on Wednesday and still crab salad for entree and half order of blueberries for dessert. Goodbye for now and I will see you again. You are my dear brother to me. Thank you for treating like an younger brother even though I’m older than you I will miss you
Sharon Beckett says:
March 31, 2020
Mike Doka was a friend to our company and to me. He gave us our start with Rehrig Pacific and we will forever be grateful to him for his appreciation of in-depth due diligence backing up business decisions. We will miss you, Mike. Thank you for your friendship and business support.
Mike McGaughey says:
May 16, 2022
That morning Mike and I are branding plastic crates and loading them on to a truck at Rehrig Pacific plant in Erie, Pa, Mike was I attended the same college together and were from the same home town. That particular day we were working and every so often he’d look up at the clock. It was so frequent that I had to ask what was going on. He said, “I’m getting married today.” I had to respond, “What are you doing here?” To this day I couldn’t believe he waited to the last minute to finish work to then rush off to marry Ella.