Richard Henderson

Richard "Jud" Henderson, age 91, of Annapolis, Maryland passed away on February 18, 2016 from complications of a ruptured appendix. He was born October 20, 1924 in Baltimore, Maryland to the late Honorable William Lynn Henderson and Vera Price Henderson. Jud is survived by his wife of 69 years, Sarah Symington Henderson and their two children: daughter Sarah (Mark) Cramer of Annapolis, Maryland, and son Richard C. Henderson of Sarasota, Florida. He also leaves behind two grandchildren: Nina Cramer of San Diego, California and Ned Cramer of Chicago, Illinois. Jud was a graduate of Severn School, Johns Hopkins University, and the Maryland Institute of Art with a post graduate fine arts degree. He served in Hawaii during World War II in the Army Air Corps' Emergency Sea-Rescue Program from 1943 through 1945. His love of sailing and the Chesapeake Bay led to a long and successful career as an author specializing in sailing and maritime topics, having written a total of 22 books, including a textbook, Sail and Power, for the U.S. Naval Academy. He illustrated most of his books. His final book on sailing was Chesapeake Sails, depicting a history of yacht sailing on the Chesapeake Bay. He was a writer and advisor for The Tell Tale Compass, served on the Seaworthiness Technical Committee of The American Boat and Yacht Council, and a judge for the Cruising World magazine selections for boats-of-the-year. He was also an accomplished self-taught jazz pianist and had just finished writing a book on jazz standards prior to his death. Jud lived most of his life on Gibson Island, Maryland where he spent many years racing his Kelpie sailboats on the Chesapeake Bay. When not racing he was cruising with his family into most accessible creeks and rivers of the Chesapeake or exploring the cruising waters of New England, the Caribbean and Europe. One highlight in his life was when he and his family sailed their Ohlson 38 transatlantic to the Azores in 1975 the old fashioned way, without electronics. He was a member of the Gibson Island Yacht Squadron, the Cruising Club of America, the Ocean Cruising Club, the Slocum Society, and the Baltimore Watercolor Club.