He came to Princeton from Groton School, where he played football and rowed crew on an undefeated boat. At Princeton he was a member of Cloister Inn, majored in Arabic, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and spent his junior year studying in Egypt and England (due to the Suez Canal conflict). He roomed with Charlie Chapin and John Kuhlthau. After graduation he went to Princeton Theological Seminary in 1964 and earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1970.

He met his wife, Virginia “Jina,” in Chicago, and they moved to Stockbridge, Mass., where Dick worked at Austen Riggs Center. In 1982 he opened a private practice of psychotherapy in Williamstown. He retired in 2014. 

Dick’s passion in the latter half of his life was applying his training to the study of the brief, enigmatic stories told by Jesus of Nazareth called parables. He published two books and was working on a third bringing these parables to bear upon the widespread denial of modern climate breakdown.

Dick is survived by his wife of 52 years, Jina; daughter Karen Ford ’92; son John Ford; and four grandchildren, Alden Ford, David Hitzrot, Jaylyn Ford, and Benjamin Hitzrot. The class extends its deepest sympathy to them all.