Richard Harvey Richardson

1938 - 2018

RICHARDSON, Richard Harvey Richard Harvey Richardson (Dick) of Austin, Texas passed away on March 22, 2018 from complications of dementia. He was born in Mexia, Texas on March 24, 1938, the only child of Rufus Harvey Richardson and Mary Irene Adams Richardson. Dick graduated valedictorian of Mexia High School in 1956. He completed a BS in Plant and Soil Science from Texas A&M University in 1959. Graduate studies were completed at North Carolina State University where he received an MS in Plant Breeding (1962) and a PhD in Genetics (1965). Dick became an assistant professor in the Department of Zoology at UT Austin in 1967, studying population genetics and teaching genetics and biostatistics classes. Research and teaching activities took him to Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Mexico, and Brazil. Later, Dick's research focused on the interactions between environment, economics and agriculture, particularly management of prairies and rangeland. Over the years, Dick taught and influenced the lives of many undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and young professors. He aspired to teach students to be self-motivated learners and to develop observation skills and be able to interpret the ecological dynamics of a site. In 2000, he was awarded faculty status in the Department of Geography in addition to his regular appointment in the School of Biological Sciences. Dick retired as Professor Emeritus, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences in May, 2010. In addition to his university career, Dick was a rancher, horseman, and cattleman in partnership with his father until Harvey's death in 1985. Dick is survived by his wife, Patricia Q. Richardson, his daughter, Desni Cox of Mexia, son Russell Richardson and daughter, Kaci Myrick of Austin, four granddaughters, and three great-grandsons. A Remembrance will be held May 5.