Richard L. Moore

Richard L. Moore, 87
ENGLEWOOD, Fla. -- Richard L. Moore, 87, of Englewood, Fla., passed away on Tuesday, April 26, 2011, after battling prostate cancer. Until recently, he and his wife also maintained a summer home in Cumberland Foreside.
He was born in Fort Lee, N.J., on Nov. 11, 1923. During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy as executive officer aboard a Landing Craft Infantry in the South Pacific.
A graduate of Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa., he received a bachelor's degree in chemistry and a masters degree in economics in January 1948. While at Bucknell he met the love of his life, Dorothy Jean Dillenback of Portland, his wife of 67 years, who survives him.
He joined W.R. Grace & Co. in September 1956 in charge of public relations for two Grace chemical divisions. In January of 1961 he was named director of public relations and in 1971 he became vice-president of Grace's corporate communications division. His career at this Fortune 50 industrial corporation spanned 32 years.
In 1982 he was a key member of the Public Relations Group on the President's Private Sector Survey of the Federal Government (aka The Grace Commission), headed by Grace's chairman, J. Peter Grace, which was charged by President Ronald Reagan to identify waste and inefficiency in the Federal Government.
Up until his death, he remained active in the Grace Alumni Association, a group of former employees from around the world, writing the group's quarterly newsletter and emceeing an annual luncheon for members.
He was a director of First Federal Savings and Loan Association, Montclair, N.J.; a member of the board of directors of the Laymen's Bible Committee; and chairman of the public relations committee of the Society of the Plastics Industry. He served as vice chairman and director of the American Institute of Chemists. He was a director of the Union Development Corporation, sponsoring urban programs in Montclair, N.J., where he also served on the vestry of St. James Church. He was a member of the National Association of Science Writers and a director of the Chemical Public Relations Association.
His interests included memberships in the Alpha Chi Sigma, national chemical fraternity, Audubon Society, Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society and the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors.
He leaves his wife of 67 years, Dorothy Dillenback Moore; three children, Diana Moore Newman of Nashua, N.H., Pamela Ann Moore of New York City and Richard Jr. and Paula Moore of Clifton, N.J.; and four grandchildren, Eric and Lindsay Newman, John and Julia Moore.