Richard B. Ragland ’45

Dick was born in New York City, grew up in Paris, Mo., and graduated from Beverly Hills High School in Beverly Hills, Calif. At Princeton he was a member of the Triangle Club, Whig-Clio, and Dial Lodge and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

He enlisted in World War II and had the highest security clearance at the time, BIGOT (British Invasion of German Occupied Territory). He was on the staff of Gen. Omar Bradley as an aerial-photograph interpreter for Operation Overlord, and went ashore at Normandy with him. He remained on the general’s staff through four more campaigns: Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes, and Central Europe, earning the EAMET Campaign Medal with five Bronze Service Stars and the rank of staff sergeant.

After the war he returned to Princeton, graduating cum laude, and attended Harvard Law School. He worked at O’Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles, handling high-profile clients such as Doris Duke. He returned to Missouri after the Sylmar/San Fernando earthquake to live with his mother in Chesterfield. He joined the Webster Groves Christian Church, where he met Dick Marshall, who made him a partner in his new law firm, Marshall, Littman, and Ragland, in Clayton. He was on the Salvation Army Advisory Board and was a member of the St. Louis Club.

He died Feb. 13, 2019. He was predeceased by his brother, Dr. John Elliott Ragland ’44. He is survived by his nephew, Richard B. Ragland II; his niece, Jennie Ragland; his cousins, Howard Short and Phyllis Short Jeter; and his godson, Samuel Mudd III.