Richard Douglas PLOTZ

PLOTZ, Richard Douglas, MD, MPH Dr. Richard Plotz, of Providence RI, died of cancer on March 2, 2024, at the age of 75. Dick was born in 1948 in Brooklyn, NY, the eldest son of Dr. Charles M. Plotz and Lucille Plotz (Weckstein).

Dick worked as a cytopathologist, holding degrees from Harvard College (undergraduate 1971), the University of Pittsburgh (MD, 1977), and Boston University (MPH).

Dick was active in the Tolkien fan community of the 1960s, organizing the Tolkien Society of America. Dick met his wife, Judy (Anker), when she traveled to Brooklyn, from Albany, to attend a Tolkien Society meeting; they were married in March 1971. He corresponded with Tolkien, visited him at his home in Oxford, and interviewed him for Seventeen Magazine.

Dick's interests in puzzles, history, geography, and language converged in his magnum opus: family trees of both his and Judy's families, spanning a dozen generations, which he researched and compiled over more than half a century.

In addition to his wife, Dick is survived by his daughter, Martha Ingols (husband Kyle, child Aloe); his son, Mike Sage (wife Vrie); and his brothers, Tom (wife Cathy Klion) and Bob (wife Sue).