Bob died Nov. 17, 2012, at home in Shippan Point, Conn., after a brief illness. He was 84.
A Stamford, Conn., native, he was senior class president at Stamford High School. He entered Princeton in 1944 and graduated in 1947 with a bachelor’s degree in political science.
For almost 65 years he was a principal in the family’s F.D. Rich Company and its subsidiary, the New Urban Corp. The Rich organizations are among the largest builders and developers throughout the United States and the Caribbean. Their projects have included design, development, and construction of business and industrial parks, shopping centers, pavilions at the 1964 World’s Fair, airport terminals, schools, hospital offices, flood-control structures, and nonprofit housing. Their largest project, beginning in 1968, was the planning, redevelopment, and major new construction for downtown Stamford.
Bob’s community-leadership roles included serving on the boards of Stamford Hospital, the Regional Plan Association, and the Stamford Yacht Club.
Bob’s wife, Jeanne, died in 1968. He is survived by his partner of more than 30 years, Valerie Wiltshire; his daughters, Priscilla Rich and Martha Rich Andrus; sons Christopher and Thomas; 10 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.