Living in Texas from age 2, he came to us from the Kincaid School, where he excelled in sports and student government. A member of Tiger Inn, he played football and golf and kept his hand in the campus musical scene. But principally, he studied biology and focused on cancer, on his way to the University of Texas Medical School in Houston. And indeed, although he followed his passion and compassion in practicing and improving emergency medicine for 42 years, he continued his distinguished cancer work through stem-cell research. Never still, he pursued interests not only in golf but in race cars, where he pioneered revolutionary composite technology, and in music as a rock drummer.
It is Dick’s warmth and outreach we remember, whether in his forbearing advice on the golf course, his incendiary recipe for rum punch, or his advice to Yeltsin’s Russian government on developing an auto industry. And when a classmate in Dallas was suddenly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Dick was the first to step up and lend an experienced hand.
He is survived by his wife, Liz, and his sister, Alice Splawn. Dick’s many friends in the class, including those who attended his memorial service in Bug blazers, will deeply miss his energy, his great good humor, and his friendship.