Richard H. Williams

1931 - 2018

Richard Huston Williams

February 19, 1931- December 4, 2018 Born in Buffalo, NY, to Margaret Preston and Huston Herbert Williams, Richard completed his BSEE and BA in math at Valparaiso University and his MSEE at the University of New Mexico (UNM). While working at Sandia Labs in Albuquerque, he finished his Sc.D. in electrical and computer engineering at UNM and began teaching there in 1961. He retired as professor emeritus in 1998. He worked on UNM hospital's surgery scientific staff, served as a dean of engineering, president of the Faculty Senate, a research professor in neurology at the VA Hospital, and taught graduate courses at UNM Los Alamos. He published numerous articles and a textbook on probability methods in electrical engineering. In 1968, at the request of UNM's art department, he created a computer program for artists called Art 1 and taught faculty and students during the 1970s how to use it. Recently it was discovered that Richard's work in this field was seminal. He was the first in the USA (and among the first globally) to create a computer program specifically for artists. A potter for many years, he worked closely with the Cochiti Pueblo Native Americans, learning their designs. From pottery he moved into watercolor and drawing. Active in the Albuquerque arts community, he was also a woodworker, a gardener, and active in Redeemer Lutheran church. See richardhwilliams.comHe and his first wife Dorothy J. Luecke (1931-1993) of Dallas, TX, had six children: Rich (1951-1988); Lynn (1953-2018); Lois; Mark; Paul, and Jon. In 1999 he married Susan Clough Wyatt of Fort Worth, TX. They lived between Albuquerque and Eugene, OR, from 2003 to 2015 before settling permanently in Eugene. Richard is survived by his wife and his four living children, their spouses/partners (James Harper, Sonya Christian, Jane Howlett, and Hilary Galian), as well as by seven grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, three step-children, and by his brother James B. Williams. Richard's ashes will be interred at Sunset Memorial in late August by his family. Remembrance donations may be made to Parkinson's Resources of Oregon or to the Storehouse in Albuquerque.