In Memory

R. Blair Richards Jr.

The Washington Post Obituaries R. Blair Richards Jr.Defense Department Official R. Blair Richards Jr., 56, a Bethesda resident who since 2003 had been supervisor of the printing and production staff at the Defense Intelligence Agency, died Nov. 8 at Casey House hospice in Rockville. He had cancer. Before joining the Defense Department, Mr. Richards spent four years as director of art and production at PostNewsweek Tech Media, a company that publishes Government Computer News and other magazines for government employees. Earlier, he was involved in design and production work at the National Geographic Society in Washington, Hallmark Cards Inc. in Kansas City, Mo., the Phillips magazine publishing group in Potomac and the American Trucking Association in Alexandria. Robert Blair Richards Jr. was born in Washington and raised in Bethesda, where he was a 1969 graduate of Walt Whitman High School. He received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Randolph-Macon College in 1973, where he was in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon social fraternity, and a master's degree in printing and technology from the Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology in 1984. He was on Randolph-Macon's swimming team and later participated in triathlons supporting the Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Mid-Atlantic. Survivors include his parents, R. Blair Richards and Maxine Richards, of Gaithersburg; three sisters, Genevieve Gilday of Kensington and Leslie Wright and Barbara Casey, both of Bethesda; and three brothers, John Richards of Bethesda and Stewart Richards and Kim Richards, both of Silver Spring.



 
  Post Comment

11/10/08 08:18 PM #1    

Deborah L Royce

Blair was an extremely kind, funny and mysterious kind of guy. We became fast friends and went on to be close, greatly because we got each others sense of humor and valued or maybe cherished many of the same things. I wish so much now that I had been bold enough to find his number and call him. I think it would have been as though not a day had passed. Did I say sensitive? He surprised me at graduation with a beautiful gift that I carried with me everywhere until I gave it to my daughter Sarah on her 16th Birthday. I wanted Sarah to have it because we were going to be apart for a while and Sarah knows how much it means to me. My condolences to Blair's parents and to all of his siblings.I pray that he rest in peace. Debby Royce

  Post Comment