Richard Byers Fuchs

He graduated from Denver Country Day School and went on to study at Harvard University. Richard continued his lifetime pursuit of knowledge on his own, always reading, especially history, listening to classical music, being a fantastic cook, gardener and world traveler.

Following a decade living in Boston and working at Brigham Hospital, he moved to San Francisco in 1972. There he met and married Elaine, and happily raised their children in an old Victorian on Potrero Hill. They shared their appreciation for travel with sons Ben and Sam as well as continuing the family tradition of nightly family dinners as a time to discuss ideas, school, and later politics, all while enjoying his cooking. Meanwhile he became a self-taught computer programmer at SF General Hospital, which led to a career programming at Stanford University with the Research Library Group (RLG) enabling researchers to download digital information worldwide and distribute to non-profit institutions until his retirement in 2006.

Richard had a deep commitment to social justice, and environmental causes, especially climate change, and passed these values on to his children. His calm demeanor, sense of fairness, generosity and compassion for others guided him and set the tone for how he lived his life.

Richard is survived and deeply missed by his wife Elaine, sons Ben and Sam, beloved daughter-in-law Shir, his sister Kit, and dear friends Ann McCrow, Randy James and Joel Davis. Funeral services were held. Contributions in his name may be sent to the ACLU or The Nature Conservancy.