Richard C. Lang

Richard Corry Lang was born in Monterey Park, California on August 13th, 1946, the first-born child of Richard William ("Bill") Lang and Marvis Alley.

During his long life "Rich" lived in various places on the West Coast, including California (El Monte, Arcadia, Whittier, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Oxnard), Washington (Walla Walla, Spokane), and Oregon (Ashland, Talent).

During his formative high school years, Rich experienced spiritual epiphanies that led him to become interested in philosophical and religious questions. He began exploring varieties of Christian faith, along with other religious and secular traditions. In his college years at California State University at Los Angeles, he focused on Literature and Philosophy and became a lifelong lover of the great books. He earned an M.Div. in Christian Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary and entered pastoral ministry.

Throughout his varied career, Rich engaged in pastoral ministry, ecumenical campus ministry, organizational leadership development, and personal counseling. He worked with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Whitman College in Walla Walla and later led ecumenical campus ministry for students at Southern Oregon University.

He also taught many courses at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at SOU.

Rich had passions for reading, writing, exploring new ideas, creating frameworks for understanding intellectual traditions, and teaching. He read widely across multiple disciplines and was especially interested in comparative worldviews. He often recommended books on philosophy, psychology, or culture to his friends and family, and he was known to order multiple copies of a book so he could distribute them to friends. He delighted in hosting groups at his home for deep conversation, and friends remember him as an intellectual and spiritual mentor of great knowledge and creativity.

In recent years, Rich enjoyed facilitating a small group of men known as the "Socratic Conversational Salon," in which he aspired to encourage others to cultivate wisdom, virtue, imagination, beauty, truth, and friendship by discussing big questions. In the last months of his life, he was thrilled to be writing a book about his vision of human flourishing. He said that his aim was "to see life steadily and see it whole."

Rich was father to four children with his first spouse, Judy Lang. His adult children remember him drawing mazes for them on restaurant napkins, making up stories, teaching them to play board games, and trying to engage them in philosophical discourse. He also loved listening to a wide variety of music, especially classical, as well as accompanying his pianist son Greg on the blues harmonica.

He and his beloved Margay Garrity were together for 25 years. He often told his children how much he loved living in the Oregon countryside with Margay. He especially enjoyed ending the day by watching PBS, Masterpiece Theater, and cozy mysteries with her.

Rich died on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, at his home. He is survived by his wife, Margay Garrity; his younger brother, "Bud"; his four grown children, Greg Lang, Christy Lang Hearlson, Julie Galloway, and Robbie Lang; and seven grandchildren. Near the end of his life, Rich said he was "truly blessed."

A Memorial Gathering for family and friends will be held at 2:00PM on Saturday, May 2, 2026. Please contact C. Lang Hearlson at Christiane.lang@gmail.com for details and location.