He is survived by his wife, Candi Pearce, and his six (yes, 6) children, Kevin, Chris, Kerry, John, Brian and Karen Alice; his 10 grandchildren, Kelsey, Dylan, Natalie, Colleen, Kristen, Will, Graham, Ellie, Holly and Zackery.
Richard was born in New York and overcame a hard-scrabble upbringing to earn a chemical engineering degree from Columbia University and an MBA from Iona College. He was a key member of the team that placed a science experiment to grow ultra-pure crystals in space aboard the space shuttle Columbia in November 1996 (FTF80/WFF-03).
Later in life, Richard, along with his wife Candi, opened Barkingham Palace in 2001. Their innovative dog-suite design quickly grew a loyal base of customers who immediately recognized them as fellow dog lovers. Together they also began the Gemini Golden Retrievers breeding program and have supplied hundreds of Brevard residents with beautiful and loving golden retrievers.
Richard was an avid golfer and passed his love of the game onto his children. After many brushes with golfing mediocrity, his game started to come together later in life, a fact he was very proud of. He spent many a Thanksgiving game hosting a regular pickup football game in the front yard for his children and their friends.
Richard’s pride in his children and grandchildren was immediately obvious to everyone he met. He obsessively regaled strangers with stories about their lives and achievements.
His family will remember Richard as always being close to a good book
(usually a thriller or mystery), evening bowls of vanilla ice cream, Sunday morning paper deliveries, Saturday morning pancakes, barbershop quartets, and a generosity that made people feel loved and special in his presence.
In lieu of flowers, Richard’s family requests that donations be made to Canine Companions for Independence or your local Golden Retriever Rescue organization.
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