Richard Young

1939 - 2010

Wednesday, December 15, held by family, surrounded in love. He was an incredible and loved father and PupPup, a devoted and fun husband, a worshiped brother and for so many, a hero and an irreplaceable friend.

Richard was born in Penfield NY on October 17, 1939, to the late Carl and Margaret Young. He graduated from Penfield High School where he excelled in sports winning the amateur version of The Hickok Belt. He attended the University of Rochester then moved to New York City where he graduated from The School of Visual Arts and attended Pratt Institute and The Art Students League of New York. It was the beginning of his lifelong love affair with drawing, with photography, and with New York City.

He served in the US Army, trained in Special Forces, Airborne and attained the rank of Sergeant at Fort Bragg, NC.

In 1965, Richard brought his talent and imagination to Kodak where he was a member of the Motion Picture Services unit, directing and photographing movies for sales presentations, for showing on Public Television, and new product launches. In 1976 he created the movie, "Washington The Man" which was Kodak's gift to the nation to celebrate the Bicentennial. It was shown in a specially built theater in Washington, DC, where it was seen by hundreds of thousands of visitors.

After 25 years at Kodak, Richard left to point his camera into the darkness of global problems needing to be solved, to bring attention to those needing to be heard. With Worldwide Documentaries he photographed "I'm Still Here: The Truth About Schizophrenia" followed by two more powerful movies: "A Closer Walk", a film confronting the Global AIDS epidemic, and "Not My Life", a feature length documentary on modern day human trafficking which he was in New York City doing the color correction on a month ago. On December 11th "Not My Life " had it's world premier in Luxor, Egypt at the First Lady Egypt's global conference on Human Trafficking. Getting calls from his colleagues from Worldwide Documentaries while the film was playing against a temple in Egypt was a thrill to him! Four days later he passed.

Richard had an enduring sense of curiosity, a passion for restoring Mopar muscle cars, hence his vanity plate, "Rumbles", and an attraction to people -- guiding, inspiring, mentoring them -- telling their stories on film, enriching their lives. Those who worked with him speak of his extraordinary artistic gifts - his vision and wisdom; his patience and grace; his sensitivity and enthusiasm and friendship - and transforming even the most tragic subjects into beautiful films. His work received two Emmy Awards and an Academy Award nomination.

He leaves behind his wife, Pamela Young!; daughter, Jacqueline and son-in-law, Nicholas Perrins, and their three children Owen, Macy and Sawyer; his siblings -- Carol (Richard) Habes, Jeffrey (Carol Ann) Young, Michael (Geri) Young, Jan (John) McLean, and Debora (Dennis) Wyckoff; the mother of the light of his life, Rose P. Young; his brothers and sisters in-law -- John (Laura) VanDerWerken, Donna (Leslie Reeves) VanDerWerken, JoAnn VanDerWerken, Mary (Frank Costanza) VanDerWerken, and Lisa VanDerWerken. He was "Coolest Uncle" to scores of nieces and nephews and knew the love of many wonderful and tender friends. His beloved dogs, Berkeley Boy and Truman, who in the way that dogs do, gave him unconditional love and attention until the last possible moment wait together for him to come home. He generously donated his body to the Anatomical Gift Program at the University Of Rochester.

A Mass to celebrate this kind man's life and work is planned for January 29, 2011 at 1:00pm at Blessed Sacrament Church, 534 Oxford Street, Rochester, New York, followed by a reception until 5:00pm at NXT Media, 6 North Main Street, Fairport, New York -- a place he loved to be!

In lieu of flowers his wish was for donations to The Humane Society at Lollypop Farm or a charity of your choice.