- Date Of Birth: October 19, 1920
- Date Of Death: November 8, 2012
- State: Colorado
Richard was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, October 19, 1920, to Clarence and Inez Dodge. He had one sister, Jean Dodge (Bardwell). The family moved numerous times while he was growing up and he attended nine different grammar schools from Massachusetts to California. He went on to attend the University of California at Berkley and received graduate degrees in Chemistry and Engineering. Dick’s career spanned 40 years in the chemical/petrochemical and oil industries. He was Manager of International Marketing Research for Pecten Chemicals, Inc., a subsidiary of Shell Oil Company U.S.A. He was concerned with the planning and strategic development of Shell’s international chemical business. His work also included Shell’s joint venture with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Dick was actively involved with the Chemical Industry Association (CMA) in Washington, D.C. on international trade policy. He was an advisor to the Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative to the International Petrochemical Consultations of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Previous experience included coordinating the design and construction of major olefin facilities, and managing the market research and strategic planning for the domestic petrochemical business. He designed, supervised construction, and managed the synthetic rubber plant at Torrance, California. He spent several years as General Superintendent of Shell Oil’s chemical plant at Norco, LA, near New Orleans. Dick retired from Shell Oil on Oct. 1, 1982 and then embarked on his second career as President of Sage Data Corporation in Princeton, NJ, an innovator in computer research and technology. Dick retired from his second career in 1989 and decided to tackle, with his wife Sharon, the job of restoring a New Hampshire farmhouse built in 1792 to its original beauty. Dick and Sharon moved to Canon City in 2003. Since that time, Richard has been writing economic commentary on domestic and foreign policy issues of the oil industry. Most recently, Dick wrote a book on the subject of God, Time and Life. He leaves his deeply saddened family of Sharon, his wife, and two daughters, Cheryl Love (Lancaster, CA) and Evonne Hicks (Magnolia, TX); grandchildren Raymond, Jeffrey and Kevin Highsmith, Merry, Nancy and Justin Hicks; numerous great and great-great grandchildren; nephews and nieces, Billie, John, Bob, James, Kathy, and Barbara (Bardwell).
