Memories and Tributes

I have known Richard since the time I was at Hope College, so it was before 1981, when I left Holland. He had invited me to speak to a student group about slime molds, which I was studying at the time. That was my first invitation to talk at a college. Later we interacted about ambrosia beetles when his undergraduate research student, Steven Cassar, came to LSU to work in my lab. Steven had learned so much from Richard that I felt completely useless to advise on the project. Richard through Steven gave my research a real boost, and I’ve always been thankful to him. I will remember him as a kind man with a love of imparting science to others — especially ambrosia beetle lore.