Daniel Fred Richard

Daniel was born at Swedish Hospital in Seattle, Washington, on October 8, 1965, the second son of Ruth Loraine (Patterson) Richard and Fred Leon Richard. Dan lived with a number of challenges during his life, beginning with Asperger Syndrome, dyslexia and high IQ. He was loose-jointed and never learned to crawl; rather, he used his legs to scoot himself in a sitting position. This syndrome seems to have made him the target of bullying and tormenting through his school years. The dyslexia made reading difficult but he was almost savant in math and arithmetic; he could glance at a column of numbers and tell you the sum. In his mid-30s, he developed Type 1 Diabetes, which caused extreme physical deterioration for the 20 years prior to his death on August 28, 2016, after residing at Puget Sound Healthcare in Olympia, Washington, for about four years. From Seattle, Dan’s family moved to Redmond, Washington, then to San Jose, California, in September 1969 where Dan began school at Bernal Elementary School. Dan continued schooling as the family moved to Burnsville, Minnesota in July 1976 and then to Phoenix, Maryland in December 1978. He graduated from Dulaney High School in Timonium, Maryland on June 3, 1984. Later in June 1984, he moved with his family to Lacey, Washington. He continued his education, earning an AA degree from South Puget Sound and Centralia Community Colleges and then a BA in Accounting from Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington, circa 1988. After college, Dan got an accounting position with the State of Washington, moving between several departments (with a short diversion to a couple of private sector accounting positions) until he was disabled by diabetes beginning about 2000. Dan enjoyed handling dogs at dog shows, along with the attendant duties of caring for and preparing the dogs to be shown. He had a number of friends in the dog show world and would frequently assist other exhibitors with preparing their dogs and would often show their dogs for them. He campaigned a number of dogs to their championship and beyond. He focused on Australian Terriers, Pugs and Cairn Terriers, but was not limited to them. He also enjoyed traveling with family members and playing blackjack at the local casinos. Dan is survived by his parents, Fred Leon Richard and Ruth Loraine Richard; his brothers, Michael Todd Richard and Jeremy Joseph Richard with his wife Jenny Louise (Robinson) Richard; and his sister, Janine Kathleen (Richard) Thompson with her husband Rob Thompson. Please leave memories of Dan or condolences for his family in the Guestbook below.