Frank Richardson

Frank Harrison Richardson, born on the 15th of March 1933 in White River, South Dakota, passed away peacefully at home, Tuesday, the 7th of November 2023, surrounded by his loving wife of 65 years, Marilyn, and his beloved dogs, Sushi and Poo, after a life well-lived.

Besides Marilyn, Frank is survived by his daughter, Stacey Richardson Roth; his son, Scott Harrison Richardson; his grandson, Andrew Roth; and great-grandson, Holden Roth.

Raised in Wood, South Dakota, Frank went to school in a one-room schoolhouse before attending South Dakota School of Mines and Technology between 1951 and 1955, graduating with honors with a BS degree in geological engineering. In 1985 SDSMT honored Frank with an Honorary Doctorate of Business Administration and in 2003 as a Distinguished Alumni.

Honoring his ROTC commitment, he joined the U.S. Army as an engineering officer on the staff of Gen. William Woodward’s engineering staff in Verdun, France. While on Gen. Woodward’s staff he also was a member of the annual NATO war games exercises and was the engineering member of the inspector general’s office for USAEUR.

In mid-1957, upon completing his military service, Frank began his long, successful career with Shell Oil Company. It was at this time that he met the love of his life, Marilyn Duff and they were married on the 17th of May 1958.

The two of them traveled together for the next 35 years to Oklahoma, where both of their children were born, New York, California and, most fondly remembered, London before settling in Houston permanently in 1980.

This was a busy time for the family with Frank serving in all phases of Shell’s upstream and downstream business while Marilyn took care of everything on the home front with the kids, Stacey and Scott. Frank rose through the ranks at Shell, becoming vice president of several divisions between 1982 and 1988, culminating with President and CEO of Shell Oil Company from 1988 to 1993.

After Frank’s retirement in 1993 the family began spending as much time as possible in their beloved cabin in Ruidoso, New Mexico, pursuing an interest in quarter horse racing under the stable name of “Rocking R.” They were successful in their first year of racing, winning a number of races, culminating with the All American Futurity in 1995. The family continues to enjoy time in Ruidoso, attending races and the joys to be found at the Inn of the Mountain Gods.

When not enjoying life in the mountains around Ruidoso, Frank made use of the experience he had gained at Shell by serving on the boards of Baylor College of Medicine and Sysco Corporation for 13 years. He served on the Board at BCM from 1988 to 2012 and an emeritus member from 2012 until his death. While on the Board he served as Chairman of the Finance Committee for 10 years and Vice Chairman of BCM for four years. For the rest of his life, Frank took great pleasure in finding medical assistance for friends and family within the excellent staff at BCM.

At this time Frank and Marilyn set up the Frank and Marilyn Richardson Family Foundation. The Foundation, under their direction along with Dr. Jim Killian and Dr. Ralph Feigin and with the support of a large number of financial supporters, founded the Baylor/Methodist MS Center, the first multiple sclerosis center in the Houston Medical Center, later named the Maxine Messinger Multiple Sclerosis Center. The Center, led by Dr. Zinjan Zhang at BCM, pioneered the research efforts in immunotherapy directed at slowing down and eliminating the devastating effects of MS.

Frank paid tribute to his alma mater, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, by establishing the Richardson Family Distinguished Scholars Program. The program has awarded approximately 120 scholarships since 1990 with an annual scholarship to be awarded to a deserving student in perpetuity.

In 2003, not content to rest on his laurels, Frank poured all his years of experience into Richardson Barr & Company, a boutique oil and gas investment banking company he co-founded with his son, Scott, and a friend of Scott’s, Steve Barr. He was chairman of Richardson Barr & Co until 2008, when it was sold to the Royal Bank of Canada.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “The purpose of life is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you lived and lived well.” Frank H. Richardson exemplified such a life…a life well-lived.

On the Wednesday, the 29th of November, Frank’s life was celebrated in a private memorial service attended by those who loved him most, knew him best and who will miss him every day. The service was held at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church in Houston, where Frank and Marilyn have been members since 1980.

For those wishing to make a memorial gift in Frank’s name, the family suggests three of the many charitable organizations he generously supported through the years: Baylor College of Medicine at https://www.bcm.edu/ , Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church at https://mdpc.onlinegiving.org/ or to the Richardson Family Distinguished Scholars Program at South Dakota School of Mines at https://www.sdsmt.edu/give/ (Alternatively, you may simply select the icon below under "Donations" for direct access to their respective online donation pages.)

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