Richard G. Park III ’37

An expert on the meaning of words and an inveterate reuner, Dick Park died July 4, 1999, of congestive heart failure. He left his wife, Charlotte, daughters Esther and Mary, and two grandchildren.

Dick prepared at The Hill and majored in history at Princeton. In 1960 he obtained an MA in international relations at the U. of Pennsylvania. He started his career with Provident Trust Co., but then his ROTC got him into the Army in 1941. He spent considerable time in Texas, about which he said "the only place in the world where a man can stand knee deep in mud and have sand blow in his face." In Europe he participated in the Battle of the Bulge, Remagen Bridgehead, and the Rhineland Campaign, coming out a major in 1946.

After several years in business, he changed careers and became a professor of political science and history at Widener U., formerly known as Pennsylvania Military College in Chester, Penn. In 1980, after 27 years of teaching, he and Charlotte retired to Nokomis, Fla. In 1986 Dick lost most of his eyesight from strokes but pursued his lifelong passion for world events by attending many Princeton and Ivy League lectures, listening to talking books, and following the world news daily. A week before he died, after several months of declining health, Dick announced that he wished to die on July 4. The significance of this date did not escape those who knew his interest in history.

The Class of 1937