Richard Thompson Hull

1939 - 2021

Richard Thompson Hull

Richard Thompson Hull, 81, passed away on March 15, 2021. He was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to John Montague Hull and Wilma Winter Hull, on December 29, 1939. He served six months in the Army immediately after graduating from high school and was then in the Army Reserves for six years. After the active-duty Army service, he went to Park College, in Parkville, Missouri, following in his brother, John Winter Hull's footsteps. However, after one semester, he followed his roommate and the roommate's chemistry professor to Austin College, in Sherman, Texas. There he met the woman that he would be married to for 59 years, and in love with for 61 years, Elaine Mangelsdorf Hull. He became student body president there. After graduating, he and Elaine went to graduate school at Indiana University, in Bloomington Indiana, where they both earned PhDs, Richard in Philosophy and Elaine in Psychology. They then took jobs at State University of New York at Buffalo, going from assistant professors eventually to full professors. Richard took a two-year leave of absence to serve as Headmaster of Calasanctius School for intellectually gifted students and kept it from going bankrupt. His and Elaine's son Geoffrey Alaric Hull, attended the school, and after graduation, attended Oberlin College for a year, until he accidentally passed away. After working through that loss, Richard decided to retire from teaching and became the Executive Director of the Text and Academic Authors Association for eight years, until 2013. He also served as Visiting Distinguished Professor at the University of Montana during 2003 and Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, during 2013. His health began to wane after a severe infection in his right knee. He has battled health problems off and on for the past several years. He finally succumbed and left Elaine and his many friends in grief, but trying to concentrate instead on all of the wonderful experiences they had shared with him. We look forward to the post-pandemic period, when we will have a gathering to celebrate his life. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Humane Society, Tallahassee Hospice, or the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra.