Richard Russell

1956 - 2025

Richard Ford Russell died peacefully at his home on September 22nd, 2025, his wife and son by his side. The blue Pacific Ocean sprawled before him, ready for his next adventure.

Born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, on November 19, 1956, Richard was the eldest of five children to George and Jane Russell. The family would collaborate in business and philanthropy, but Richard established early in his life that he had his own map. His map was built around music, art, wilderness, among Pacific Northwest forests, climbing Mount Rainier, and traveling the length of the Salish Sea.

Richard had a spirit beyond the Northwest attending Phillips Exeter ('76) and Stanford ('80) At Stanford he studied international relations where Richard began to see how his interests might converge rather than compete. Forging new thinking on how cultures intersect, and continually refining his wit and creative prowess.

After graduation, Richard moved to a chicken coop. He focused on his painting. He would meet Jileen on a beach nearby with his beloved dog Alice one sunset, borrowing Jileen's guitar from her and then spending the next evening going door to door to find Jileen again. They built a love that spanned 42 years and a lifetime of sunsets. Richard continued to grow his painting and music, forming The Red Rhythm band, and built a cult following in the South Puget Sound region.

He and Jileen married in 1982 and moved to London, where Richard would work closer with his family business, The Frank Russell Company. At Frank Russell Company, he brought a strategic mind shaped by creative sensibility that saw opportunities others missed.

On his return, Richard and Jileen welcomed their son Zac, and Richard continued to wear many hats, working with The Frank Russell company and beyond across diverse and wide-ranging enterprises, helping organizations and individuals articulate their purpose and communicate complex ideas. This culminated in supporting his family in selling their business, with Richard being key to transitioning a corporate culture that was people first, a philosophy he carried through every part of his life.

His forty-two marriage to Jileen was more than romance; it was a foundation, supporting individual dreams while creating new ones neither could have imagined alone. In 1999, Richard and Jileen founded the Pu'u O Kumau Ranch in North Kohala, Hawaii. The ranch embodied their belief that business could regenerate rather than extract and that communities could be built around shared values rather than mere transactions.

Richard's artistic output throughout his life was prolific. He painted, capturing landscapes and the emotions they evoked. He was a musician and songwriter, forming bands including the Red Rhythm Band, The Dogmanauts, Ricardo & Friends, The Red Water Trio, The Slippersons, and The Castaways. Over the years, he produced twelve albums of mostly original music and created documentary films, including "Burner, Once a Blue Angel" and "Movement Nature Meant." His art was never separate from his life; it was how he processed and shared his experience of the world, often from his sanctuary on the water, Alisaz, his boat that he took to every corner of the Salish Sea, embraced by his community as his crew.

Richard's most lasting work may have been in philanthropy. He helped launch The Russell Family Foundation with his parents and siblings, where he served as a trustee and president. He was a foundational leader to the organization for over twenty years. In 2021, Richard co-founded Clementine Fund with Jileen, their son, Zac and daughter-in-law Mariko. As executive director, he led initiatives closer to his values, building a model for trust-based philanthropy from lessons learned from decades of grantmaking. Richard believed that real change happens when funders step back and communities step forward to take the reins of change.

Richard approached his various roles-businessman, artist, philanthropist, husband, father, grandfather-not as separate identities but as expressions of a single philosophy: that life was meant to be lived fully, talents were meant to be shared,and that success was measured in collective flourishing. Throughout his professional success, Richard maintained what friends described as an uncommon gift for creating safe and welcoming spaces. He could make people feel seen and valued at the ranch, in music venues, or in foundation meetings. Creativity flourished in his presence because judgment did not.

Richard often watched the Pacific Ocean perform its daily drama of light and water from his home perched on the world's edge. Each morning brought sunrise from the mountains, and each evening, sunset beyond the deep blue sea. Between those daily revelations, Richard Russell lived in a world he cherished and explored.

He is survived by Jileen, his wife of forty-two years; his son Zac and daughter-in-law Mariko; his grandson Rumi; his father George Russell, and three siblings Dion, Eric & Sarah.

"And when you hear that song / Come crying like the wind / It seems like all this life / Was just a dream / Stella Blue" - Stella Blue by the Grateful Dead (Garcia and Hunter).