John Richard Liston

Dr. John Richard Liston, of Orangeburg, SC, and Asheville, NC, died on July 5, 2022, in Buncombe County, NC. He was the son of the late Joan Murray Liston of Charleston, SC, and the late James Wilfred Liston of Penrose, NC. He was born in Charleston, SC, in 1961. A memorial service will be held in the coming months. Dr. Liston attended Summerville High School and received an undergraduate degree in music from University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem and a Master of Music degree in trombone performance from Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. Among his many roles as a musician were his membership in the Matrix Brass Quintet and his position as principal trombonist in the Winston-Salem Symphony. He later became interested in computer science, specifically computer math, and received a master's degree in computer science from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC, and then attended Georgia Tech in Atlanta, where he received a Ph.D. in Computer Science. While at Georgia Tech, his research with colleagues helped improve the speed of the internet. At the time of his passing, he was teaching Computer Science at Claflin University in Orangeburg, SC. Richard is survived by his sister, Rev. Evelyn (Lyn) Liston, of New York, NY, an aunt, Mrs. Frieda Chastain Liston, of Taylors, SC, her sons, Dr. Rallie Liston of Woodruff, SC, and Dr. Phillip Liston, of Taylors, SC, his former spouse LuAnn Roth of Phoenixville, PA, other relatives, and many friends. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the organization Read to Succeed in Asheville, NC, www.r2sasheville.org.