Willard Cooper Richan

Dr. Willard Cooper Richan died at home on June 23, 2025 at the age of 97. He was born on March 20, 1928, in Auburn, Maine to Avard and Helen Richan (nee Cooper). Avard, circulation manager for the Lewiston Sun, died when Dr. Richan was four years old, leaving his family in the midst of the Depression with no means of support and forcing his mother into the workforce; families at that time did not have the benefit of welfare or Social Security. Dr. Richan's childhood experiences no doubt influenced his lifelong devotion to helping the less fortunate members of American society.

After attending Edward Little High School, Dr. Richan completed a bachelor's degree in three years, graduating from Bowdoin College in 1948. Dr. Richan then taught high school history, sold encyclopedias door-to-door, and worked in the news department of radio station WLAM in Lewiston, Maine. In 1950, he was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War. A devoted pacifist, he took Conscientious Objector status and for his non-combatant service, served in the psychiatric ward of a VA hospital, where his interest in Social Work was solidified. Following his honorable discharge, he obtained a Master's degree in Social Work from Columbia University, where he met and married fellow student Anne Bernstein in 1955. They spent two years in Wautoma, Wisconsin, where he provided social services to the rural poor through county child welfare agencies. The Richans then returned to New York City so that he could complete his doctorate at the Columbia University School of Social Work. Both Dr. Richan and his wife became passionate Civil Rights and anti-war activists.

In 1962, Dr. Richan became a professor in the School of Social Work at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. The Richans bought a home in the Shaker Heights neighborhood of Ludlow, the first self-integrated community in the United States. It was during this time that Dr. Richan attended the 1963 March on Washington, observing Dr. Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech, and co-authored the study which contributed to the desegregation of the Cleveland Public Schools.

In 1969, Dr. Richan joined the Temple University School of Social Work as a founding professor and associate dean, where he taught until his retirement in 1993. Dr. Richan is the author of several books, including Social Work, the Unloved Profession (1973); Social Service Policies in the United States and Britain (1980); Beyond Altruism (1988); and Lobbying for Social Change (1996), which has been translated into several languages, including Vietnamese. He and his family lived in Swarthmore, where Dr. Richan and his wife joined the Swarthmore Friends Meeting and became deeply involved in sanctuary for Central American political refugees.

After retiring, Dr. Richan devoted his time to volunteer work in Chester, PA, including voter registration drives, adult literacy programs, education programs for disadvantaged children, and serving on the Boards of Chester Eastside Ministries and the Chester NAACP. After the death of Anne in 2000, Dr. Richan, as he described it, "already had one foot in Chester, and decided to put in the other", moving to the city in 2002.

He also began self-publishing novels: The Onion Man (2010); Flannelmouth Finnegan (2013); Brand New World (2024); Tale Spins (2024); and Troublemaker (2025). In addition, he pursued his hobbies of painting and musical composition.

In 2007, Dr. Richan married Bernice Sisson, a culinary educator and writer, who died in 2010. In 2018, he married Ann Barrett Hubben, a Social Worker specializing in work with children.

Dr. Richan is survived by his wife, Ann Hubben; four children: Amie, David (Sandy Wissell), Bonnie (Steve Aiena) and Peter (Patty Day), and well as his two grandchildren, Henry Tippens-Richan (Kyra) and Elliott Aiena. He is also survived by DeSai Langley and Dezhra Morrell, who were dear to his heart. The family wishes to profusely thank the Main Line Health Hospice Care program, and the Powered by Love home health aide agency. Dr. Richan donated his body to the Humanities Gift Registry, to be studied by medical students. Because his body is going to Temple Medical School, he will once again be teaching at Temple University.

A memorial service will be held on Sunday, August 17th, 2025 at 2 pm at the Swarthmore Friends Meeting House.