Robert James Richardson, 89, died on Monday, December 25, 2023, in Concord, MA. He was born on January 20, 1934, in Brooklyn, NY, the son of Sydney Richardson and Mary Frances Healy. He was raised in Quincy, MA, and attended Boston College as an ROTC cadet. He served in the U. S. Army from 1955 to 1957 in the 775th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Corps, where he was stationed in Schwabische Halle, Germany. During the Berlin Wall Crisis in 1961 Bob was recalled to service, and he was ultimately honorably discharged from the Army in1966 at the rank of captain.
After his army service, Bob attended the Wharton School of Business, and then moved to New York to work for Irving Trust Company at 1 Wall Street. He attended Harvard’s Advanced Management Program in 1970. From 1974-1977, the family was relocated to Los Angeles, CA where Bob established an international branch of Irving Trust that served clients across the Pacific Rim. Following his tenure in Los Angeles, he returned to 1 Wall Street for the duration of his career and retired from Irving in1989 as a senior vice-president.
In his retirement Bob became interested in biblical exegesis and studied with a variety of teachers; he eventually became a scripture studies teacher at his parish, St Paul Church, in Greenwich, CT and assembled a considerable reference library on the bible and religious thought. He was also a member of the Greenwich Town Meeting for 20 years, including chairing the Planning Committee for several years. A lifelong lover of opera, he attended the productions of the Metropolitan Opera Company for many years and endeavored with some success to pass his love of classical music on to his children.
Bob was proudest of his 60-year marriage to his wife, Susan, his four sons and their accomplished partners and his eight grandchildren. He was kind, talkative and a thoughtful listener with everyone he met, and delighted in word play and doing the NYT crossword puzzle. A voracious consumer of the news, he loved talking politics and current events, and happily shared articles of interest with his children and grandchildren throughout his life.
Bob was predeceased by his father who died in1936, his mother who died in 1952, and his older brother, Sydney Bristow Richardson. Sydney was a B-24 co-pilot in World War II assigned to the U.S. Eighth Air Force; he was lost in action on January 30, 1944, while operating out of the United Kingdom.
He is survived by his wife, Susan of Carlisle, MA, and his four sons: James and wife Susan Lynch of Concord, MA; John and wife Sheila Heen of Carlisle, MA; Frederick and wife Jessica Walbridge of Austin, TX; and Andrew and fiancé Suzy Oo of Arlington, VA. Bob was also a proud grandfather of eight: Benjamin, Francesca, Peter, Katharine, Adelaide, William, James, and George.
A visitation will be held in the Acton Funeral Home, 470 Massachusetts Avenue (Rt 111) on Tuesday, January 2, 2024 from 9:00 – 10:30 AM followed by a Mass in St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish, 89 Arlington Street, Acton at 11 AM. Interment in Green Cemetery, Carlisle. At the family’s request, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Bob’s memory to the USO at https://www.uso.org/donate/
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