Richard was born in Menton, France.  From an early age he was bi-lingual.  He was brought up in England at Lightwater Lodge, which later became Paddock Wood Finishing School.  His preparatory school was The Dragon School in Oxford.  At the age of 12years he went to Wellington College in Crowthorne, Berkshire.   On leaving school he did his 2 years of National Service with the army intelligence corps.   Once completed, he went to Vienna to study German.   On becoming fluent in that language, he moved to Paris where he lived for sometime with a Russian emigre family (who had fled the revolution in their own country) to learn Russian.

 

Fluent in 4 languages, he was offered a job in the Export Division of Courtaulds plc.   This division was called Lustre Fibres.   In the summer of 1958 he married an ex Paddock Wood student, Penelope Turner Cain, from Jersey in the Channel Islands.   They went on to have 3 children, Antoinette, Nichola and Anthony.

 

Richard's career soon started to take off and he quickly became first a Director, then Chairman, dealing specifically with the "Iron Curtain" countries, (Russia and its satillites).   Then, still in his late 30's he suffered a massive stroke.   Inspite of having access to the very best available treatment and care which saved his life, he was left semi paralised with the loss of the powers of communication.  After 3 years he had managed to recover a small and very limited part of his speech only, the ability to read and write did not return.  In 1975 he went to live at Paddock Wood and passed away in 1986.

I’d like to thank Richard’s first wife Penny Pereira (Penelope Turner Cain), and her 3 children mentioned above, for this kind contribution to the memory of Richard.