Kenneth R. Royer, one of the founders of Royer’s Flowers, died on Dec. 14, 2023, of complications related to Parkinson’s disease.
Kenneth was born in Lebanon, PA, on April 29, 1931, to Hannah (Sherman) and Lester Royer.
He was married for 58 years to the former Jean Beckley, who died in May 2010. Kenneth and Jean had six children, all of whom survive them: Rebecca (David) Fuchs, of Lancaster, William (Joyce Messere), of Lafayette Hills, Thomas (Cindy Essis), of Hummelstown, Gregory (Amy Bomberger), of Lititz, Michael (Julie Arnold), of Lebanon, and Jonathan (Tammy Poczak), of Mechanicsburg.
Kenneth was a proud graduate of the Lebanon High School class of 1949. Following his graduation from Michigan State University in 1951 with an AA degree in floriculture, Ken joined his parents in the flower business. Under Ken’s leadership, Royer’s Flowers grew to include 15 stores in central PA. Ken spoke at over 50 wire service and other florist meetings, providing educational sessions on marketing and business management. In 1998, he wrote and published the book Retailing Flowers Profitably, which described the innovative procedures that helped him grow the business.
Royer was a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of American Florists (SAF), the American Floral Endowment, and the Retailer’s Council of SAF, as well as chair of the American Floral Marketing Council. He authored a column in Florists’ Review for 14 years.
For his many contributions to the floral industry, Ken was named PA Retail Florist of the Year in 1983 and received INC magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1993. He was presented with the Golden Bouquet award from the Society of American Florists in 1986, the Teleflora Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, the FTD Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004, and was inducted into the Society of American Florists Floriculture Hall of Fame in 2021.
In 2008, Kenneth and Jean started the Royer Family Charitable Foundation. Ken would tell people that the life accomplishment of which he was most proud is the work of the Foundation. The Foundation has contributed significant dollars to projects that work to improve the quality of people’s lives in Lancaster, Harrisburg, Carlisle, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Haiti. Ken had the opportunity to travel to Haiti to observe the medical clinics the Foundation has funded and to Sierra Leone to visit farms the Foundation has supported.
Ken enjoyed spending time with family and friends in Avalon, NJ; flying his Mooney plane, which he learned to fly when he was in his fifties; attending Philadelphia Phillies spring training games with family and friends; Tuesday morning golf and breakfast at the Quentin Haus; and following the ups and downs of the Philadelphia Eagles. He was a member of the Lebanon Church of the Brethren for many years, where he served as an adult Sunday school teacher and chair of the church board.
In addition to his children, Kenneth is survived by his loving partner for the past 12 years, Ann Hauer; 18 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; a sister, Beatrice Kiehner, of Norfolk, VA; a brother, Glenn, of Lebanon; and nine nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held on Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023, at 12 p.m. from Kreamer Funeral Home & Crematory, Inc., 618 E. Main St., Annville, PA, with the Reverend Ann Bach officiating. Interment will take place at the convenience of the family. A visitation with Ken’s family will be held from 11 a.m. until the time of his service at the funeral home.
