Richard Alan Palmer

1935 - 2025

Richard Alan Palmer

November 13, 1935 - February 20, 2025

Hillsborough, North Carolina - Dr. Richard Alan Palmer was a dedicated scientist who also loved the arts and had dozens of hobbies including wine making, fly fishing, gardening, musical theater, exercise, trailblazing, mushroom foraging, travel, and more. He was stoic at times, but was a deeply whimsical, clever man who savored every experience that he was fortunate to have. A devoted husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and Professor Emeritus of chemistry at Duke University, he passed away peacefully on February 20, 2025 in Hillsborough, North Carolina at the age of 89.

Born in Austin, Texas in 1935 of Ernest Austin and Eugenia Rosalie Robey Palmer, Richard spent his childhood playing in the woods and creeks around the family home. After graduating from Austin High School, he earned the Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin in 1957 with a Navy ROTC scholarship. His Navy service introduced him to the beauty and wonder of the world, offering him a chance to see the sunrise from Mt. Fuji and the volcanic fields of Hawaii, among many other natural spectacles, and that experience lit a fire for travel that lasted most of his life. After an honorable discharge from the Navy at the rank of Lt. Junior Grade he continued his education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, obtaining a Master of Science in 1962 and a Ph.D. in 1965.

Along the way he married Janice Leah Boyce in 1962, adopting her two children from a previous marriage and bringing two more wonderful children into the world. He gave his family a rich life full of travel, both domestic and abroad, starting with a year of postdoctoral work with the Hans Christian Oersted Institute at Copenhagen University in Denmark. The family landed in Durham, North Carolina, where Richard began a 45-year career in research and teaching at Duke University. The travel continued over the years through sabbaticals in Austin, Texas and in Europe including several in Paris, France, a city dear to his heart, and one in Freiburg and Karlsruhe, Germany sponsored by the prestigious Humboldt Research Award.

Richard's research interests spanned analytical, inorganic, and physical chemistry. He received international recognition as one of the most consistent and significant contributors to the renaissance of Fourier transform infrared photo acoustic spectroscopic (FTIR PAS) science from the 1970s well into the 2000s. He gave countless talks and published 184 papers that have been cited over 3,800 times. His innovations on time-resolved and phase-resolved vibrational spectroscopic characterization of polymer films, liquid crystals, and proteins were realized in a commercial product, and in a related project he used FTIR PAS to measure environmental damage on cultural artifacts including ink corrosion of paper cellulose on the J. S. Bach manuscripts from the 18th century. His sustained excellence in research was recognized by his election to Fellow of the American Chemical Society in 2012.

His passion for science and education shined through in his teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level. He was recognized for his dedication to advancing scientific knowledge and his commitment to mentoring students. Richard's commitment to education and mentoring spilled over into his family life, where he was always ready to put on entertaining and educational chemistry shows for birthdays and other celebrations. As his children and grandchildren know all too well, he was fond of going into great detail on any subject that was under discussion, starting from the basics, working his way through the entire history of the subject, and eventually, with luck, getting to the salient information.

Richard's work ethic was matched only by his joie de vivre. The homes he and Janice made always were at the center of gravity of a close-knit extended family. There, they have joyfully hosted countless gatherings: holidays, birthdays, and an annual summer goat roast, which began in 1991 as a lab party for his graduate students. Each summer also brought a family beach trip, where Richard delighted in taking his children and grandchildren clam digging, surf fishing, and hunting for pirate treasure. His love of fly fishing took him to trout streams and Mexican salt flats, but he wet his line most often in a small pond on his in-laws' property in Hillsborough, NC, where he and Janice eventually retired. Richard was a friend to all animals (except beavers) and a devoted caretaker of family pets. He had special bonds with dogs Sydney, Adelaide, Joey, Chiquita, and Finn, and cats Pearl and Ravi. He loved watching the birds and was a protector of wildlife.

Richard was a true Renaissance man who pursued a great breadth of hobbies, and he pursued them in great depth. He was a talented winemaker. Each year, he transformed hundreds of pounds of native scuppernong grapes into a delicious, dry white wine labeled as Chateau Richard. The first step stomping the grapes was another beloved annual tradition. For a characteristically active (and characteristically Francophile) retirement project, Richard pursued truffle farming, cultivating over an acre of trees inoculated with truffle spores and filling his days with relaxing activities like irrigation system maintenance. Richard also was a dedicated singer who took voice lessons to age 85 and sang in eight Gilbert and Sullivan productions as a member of the Durham Savoyards. He had a certain je ne sais quoi, but we don't know what it was.

Dr. Palmer was predeceased by his parents and his middle brother Robert Benton Palmer. He is survived by his wife and their four children Leah Devereux Palmer Preiss (Tony Preiss), William Devereux Palmer (Colleen Carrigan), Sarah Lauren Palmer (Josie Camacho), and Benjamin Conrad Palmer; his youngest brother Ernest Charles Palmer of Austin, Texas; and his grandchildren Dana Louise Palmer, Sinclair Palmer, Reed Devereux Palmer, Caitlin Gabriella Palmer, Maxwell Conrad Palmer (Jennifer Patterson), James Alan Preiss, and Alexander (Sandy) Jackson Preiss (Danielle Schenk), father of Richard's only great-grandchild Sylvan Schenk Preiss, born February 15, 2025.

Richard was interred at a private family ceremony, to be followed at a later date by a wider celebration to honor his life and legacy. The family would like to thank Adorable Senior Living and the Chavis-Parker Funeral Home for their care. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Common Cause, ACLU, Environmental Defense Fund, or the Union of Concerned Scientists in his memory.