Richard D. Hammond

Rich Hammond Obituary
February 9, 1957 - April 18, 2023
Richard "Rich" Dennis Hammond passed away in Philadelphia, PA on April 18, 2023 at age 66.
Rich is survived by his wife, Jody Hammond, of Ocean View, DE; son and daughter-in-law, Casey Hammond and Leala Smith, of Millersville, MD; brother- and sister-in-law, Rob and Diane Martenis, of Henrico, VA; father-in-law, Bob Martenis, of Wilmington, NC; cousin, Doreen DeBenedictis, of Tampa, FL; cousin, Lori (Bill) Sullivan, of Carmel, IN; cousin, Carol (Chuck) Rama, of Hewitt, NJ; "little brother" Sam (Anastasia) Lowery, of Little River, SC; and many other dear friends and loved ones. He is preceded in death by his mother-in-law, Vicky Martenis, of Wilmington, NC; and aunt and uncle, Dottie and Bill DeBenedictis, of Hatboro, PA.
Rich was born on February 9, 1957 in Philadelphia, PA. He graduated from Temple University in 1979 with a degree in Communications. He married the love of his life, Jody, in 1985 before beginning his career with WPHL. In 1991, they welcomed their son, Casey, into the world. After retiring in 2020, Rich and Jody moved from Fort Washington, PA to Ocean View, DE.
He was a fun-loving, generous, and laid-back husband, father, friend, and relative. Throughout his life, Rich enjoyed coaching Casey's childhood baseball and soccer teams, golfing, gardening, traveling, and jamming out to the Grateful Dead. He was passionate about the Eagles, Phillies, Mummers Parade, soft pretzels, cheesesteaks, and all things Philly. He was a member of the Philadelphia Ad Club for 15 years and ran their softball league for 10 years. He was on the Board of the Devereux Foundation for over a decade. After moving to DE, he enjoyed volunteering at the Freeman Arts Pavilion in Selbyville. His pups, Sandy and Quinn, miss their routine walks around the neighborhood, and his cats, Emma and Molly, miss their afternoon naps together.
Out of respect for Rich's wishes, interment will be private with his family. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Devereux Foundation at www.devereuxpa.org. His family and friends will continue honoring his legacy by watching TV with the volume turned up way too loudly, putting pretzels on ice cream, attending concerts, and drinking Bloody Marys.
As the Grateful Dead would say, what a long, strange trip it's been.