RICHARD HARRY HAAS

Richard "Dick" Harry Haas Richard H. Haas of Hudson died at age 100 on January 26, 2021. Dick was born in Buffalo, N.Y. Following graduation from Niagara Falls High School in 1939, he entered Massachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving a BS in chemistry in January 1943. He was a member and president of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. Dick was elected to membership in Sigma Xi Research Society for his chemical research while at MIT. Having completed pilot flight training under a government program while at MIT, Dick enlisted in the Army Air Corp. After receiving his wings, he served as a pilot flight instructor during most of WW II and was assigned to B29 flight training for Pacific duty when the war ended. Following discharge, Dick graduated from Harvard Law School in June 1948. Betty and Dick married during law school. After graduation, they departed to study in Grenoble, France. Returning in the fall, Dick entered practice in Intellectual Property law in N.Y. City. Subsequent professional moves took them to Louisiana, Texas and back to N.Y. State, with their three children born in each of those respective states. He was admitted to the bar of New York, Ohio, and the United States Supreme Court. The family moved to Akron in 1960 when Dick joined Goodyear. He completed his Goodyear service as Patent Counsel, retiring in 1985. From WWII to Goodyear retirement, Dick continued as a flight instructor in the Air Force Reserve and as Chief Flight Instructor of the Goodyear Flying Club while at Goodyear, during which he also handled the company Food and Drug law issues and served for 15 years on the Akron City Hospital Research and Ethics Committee and Institutional Review Board. Following retirement, Dick became an active arbitrator with the Ohio and Federal courts, the American Arbitration Association, and various stock exchanges, arbitrating some 400 disputes. In 1997-98 Dick joined the faculty of the University of Akron School of Law as the organizer and initial Director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law. During the 1980s and 1990s he actively participated in advancing women's equality in country club settings, serving as pro bono counsel to women in his own club as well as several clubs in Ohio and other states. A golfer since age 12, Dick was an avid participant and a low handicap player. He and Betty both played golf at Silver Lake Country Club where he first shot his age at 73, had two sub-par rounds, and his sole hole-in-one. Both also played squash and tennis together. After retiring, they re-engaged their lifelong activity of bridge and played sufficient tournament bridge to become Life Masters. Dick was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Betty (nee Vadner) Haas; two sisters, Mary Ellen Claydon and Irene Rooker, and his parents, Harry and Beatrice (nee Cambage) Haas. Dick is survived by two daughters, Dr. Susan (Donald Fisher) Haas and Becky (Frank, III) Ramsey; a son, Mark (Phyllis Levinson) Haas; grandchildren, William and Charles Natoli, C. David (Phoebe) and Eric (Joanna) Ramsey, Danielle and Ethan (Kristen) Haas and four great-grandchildren. Dick has been cremated and will be laid to rest with Betty at Arlington National Cemetery. A Celebration of his Life will be held at Laurel Lake Retirement Community at a later date. Arrangements by Johnson-Romito Funeral Home, Hudson, Ohio. www.johnsonromito.com