Dick Warren; made ice cream and smiles at Cape Cod shop

Dick Warren bought the Four Seas Ice Cream in Centerville in 1960. (John Blanding/Globe Staff file/1997)

Vanilla and chocolate were the most popular of the dozens of flavors Dick Warren made each summer at Four Seas Ice Cream in Centerville, but he put as much care into each taste that cooled a customer's tongue.

"Our caramel is all just caramel," he told the Globe in June 2005. "I'm a little bit of a snob about ice cream. After all, I've been at it for 50 years."

A high school English teacher and guidance counselor in the off-ice cream seasons, he took as much interest in the students he hired to work at Four Seas as he did in the work, hosting employees for a ski weekend each winter. Earlier this month, Mr. Warren traveled from his winter home in Sarasota, Fla., for the gathering, then stuck around in New Hampshire to ski with friends.

He died Saturday en route to a hospital after a skiing accident in Bartlett, N.H., at the Attitash resort. Mr. Warren was 72 and divided his time between Centerville and Sarasota.

"The business was not just about making money; the business was about smiles," said his son, Douglas of Hyannis. "He loved being there every day and greeting all the customers. He still loved being there even after he sold the business to my wife and I."

People traveled for miles to buy cones at the Four Seas, generation following generation, children reaching up for treats at the same counter where their parents and grandparents had spent many a summer evening in decades past. They went for the ice cream and for Mr. Warren, who could be as sweet as his offerings.

"This is a happy business, and people expect me to be happy, which I am, very much so," he told the Globe in 1997. "I enjoy having people love what I do."

And that extended to his work at Barnstable High School, where he taught English and public speaking for 15 years, was a guidance counselor for 15 more, and founded the speech and debate program.

"He was exceptionally interested in getting to know people, helping people, mentoring people, listening to people," said his daughter, Janice of Brattleboro, Vt. "He was just so well suited to the work he chose for himself."

Mr. Warren was the second owner of Four Seas Ice Cream, housed in an old blacksmith shop in the four corners area of Centerville. Not long after he became the owner, President Kennedy asked that a few pints be brought to the family compound in Hyannis Port.

"I don't usually deliver; I'm a busy man," Mr. Warren told the Globe in 1986. "But for the president of the United States, what the hell, I'll deliver."

A Saugus native, Richard R. Warren was working on a bachelor's degree from Boston University when he took a summer job at Four Seas to earn money for college. He and his first wife, Georgia, whom he met when they worked together at Four Seas, bought the shop in 1960.

Mr. Warren graduated from Boston University in 1957 and received a master's degree from Bridgewater State College in 1961. His first marriage ended in divorce, and he married Linda Sinclair 24 years ago.

Between Barnstable High School and the ice cream shop, Mr. Warren knew hundreds of students through the years and stayed in touch with many. Whenever he traveled, he stopped at colleges along the way to take former ice cream scoopers to dinner and catch up on their lives.

"He was really a surrogate parent to so many people we knew," his daughter said. "He had a huge extended family from the school side, and Four Seas side, and the larger ice cream community."

Said his son: "I've had so many people say, 'He was my second father,' or, 'He was my father.' He was just that much of a father figure to so many people."

Four Seas opened each year the weekend before Memorial Day and closed the weekend after Labor Day. The schedule overlapped with the school calendar, which made for busy weeks at the beginning and end of each ice cream season. No matter. Mr. Warren had more than enough energy to juggle duties, his children said.

He also wrote "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Homemade Ice Cream," not that he was lacking in ice cream knowhow.

Along with another employee, Mr. Warren made all the ice cream sold at Four Seas. His favorite flavor: penuche pecan.

An obvious occupational concern for ice cream makers is how to avoid letting their work add to their girth. Mr. Warren simply kept active.

"He didn't sit very well," his daughter said. "He liked to be with other people. He liked to be doing things."

From skydiving and bungee-jumping to helicopter skiing and rollerblading, Mr. Warren was always interested in new adventures. He even traveled every railroad bed in New Hampshire on cross-country skis or on a bicycle he fitted with outriggers that balanced against the rails while his tires rolled along the bed.

"Every time he felt a vibration or heard a whistle, he had to hustle to get off and disassemble the contraption before the train came by," his son said.

In addition to his wife, daughter, and son, Mr. Warren leaves a stepdaughter, Jennifer Dalrymple of Centerville; a stepson, Michael Joyal of Dover, N.H.; a sister, Francene Smith of Needham; and eight grandchildren.

A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday in Federated Church in Hyannis. Burial will be in Beechwood Cemetery in Centerville.