Richard R. Decker ’47

Richard Decker died Dec. 6, 2013, in Seattle.

He was born in Pittsburgh April 22, 1926, and entered Princeton in the summer of 1943. Returning after a short stint in the Army, Dick roomed with Phil Corsi ’50, joined Court Club, and graduated in 1949. His business career was entirely with Alcoa, in sales and marketing. On his retirement in 1989, he was a senior marketing administrator.

Moving to Mercer Island, Wash., with his second wife, Ruth, Dick began another career as ’47’s most loquacious communicator. He regularly attended mini-reunions and kept up frequent phone conversations around the country with all whom he had met through the ensuing years. Dick also served the class in Annual Giving from 1997 until 2013.

Living in the Pacific Northwest, Dick maintained his outdoor pursuits of hiking and cross-country skiing, and made regular visits up and down the coast to participate in bridge tournaments. Through his church he mentored latchkey teens at an after-school malt shop. He also was a founder of Silver Lake Winery.

Outliving his wives, Sally and Ruth, and his son, Richard, Dick was joyful to be close to daughter Linda Barnes and granddaughters Elizabeth Johnson and Shannon Barnes. The class sends them fond remembrances of this exceptionally friendly man.