Dr. Douglas Perry Richards of Johnson City passed away Tuesday, February 17, 2015 at the age of 80 after a remarkable two year battle with lung cancer.
He was born on May 13, 1934 in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada to the late C. Perry & Helen Hornby Richards. He was preceded in death by his sister, Audrey and brother-in-law Everett Henderson of Nanaimo, BC, Canada and his sister-in-law, Virginia Patton, and brother-in-law, Houston Campbell, of Jonesborough, TN.
Dr. Richards is survived by his loving wife, Shirley Patton Richards, formerly of Telford, TN, for nearly 47 years, along with two caring nieces: Jill Henderson (Robert Goodlad) of Vernon, BC, Canada and Janet Bowers (Gavin and children Celine and Katelyn) of Victoria, BC.
He was educated in the public school system and graduated in 1952 from the Kamloops High School, BC, Canada. In 1957 he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from the University of British Columbia. After working several years with the BC Forest Service, Prince Rupert, BC, he entered as a graduate research assistant at Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. At this institution, he received both a Master of Forestry (1963) and a PhD of Forestry-agriculture economics and statistics (1971) from Oregon State University. He was a member of the Canadian Institute of Forestry and the Society of American Foresters, which he joined in 1960.
Douglas served in progressively more challenging positions after graduating from the Oregon State University until his retirement in 2005. These included: Northwestern Pulp and Paper in Hinton, Alberta, Canada; Crown Zellerbach Corp. in Portland, Oregon; Forest Economics Government Institute in Ottawa, Canada; Instructor of Forestry Economics at Virginia Tech; Canadian Forestry Service in Ottawa, Canada; Head of the Forestry Department at the Mississippi State University and also Associate Director of the Forest and Wildlife Research Center at M.S. U. He retired in July 2005 and in September of that year moved to Jonesborough, TN.
Shirley would like to thank Dr. P.J. MacMillan, Dr. D. Vicente, Dr. J. Farrow and Dr. N. Floyd as well as Nurse Christa Hall and Chaplain Karl Gasser from Amedisys Hospice Care for all of their supportive care.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations can be made in Dr. Douglas P. Richards’ name to the Mississippi State College of forestry resources, advancement fund for scholarships in forestry. Send donations to: M.S.U. Foundation, Attn. Jeff Little, P.O. Box 9680, MS State, MS 39762. (please indicate this contribution is for the Dr. D.P.R. memorial fund.)
A memorial service will be conducted 7:00 PM Friday, February 27, 2015 at the Dillow-Taylor Funeral Home with Chaplain Karl Gasser and Julie Thompson officiating. The family will receive friends from 5:00-7:00 PM Friday prior to the service.