Necrology

Richard William Langstaff '64

Sep. 2, 1942-Oct. 10, 2018

Richard William Langstaff ’64, a teacher, editor, and IT and insurance consultant of Spring Lake, N.J., was born on Sept. 2, 1942, in Paterson, N.J., the son of the former Claire Feeney, a secretary, and Richard Langstaff, an engineer. He was raised in Fair Lawn, N.J., and resided in Montclair, N.J., for most of his adult life before moving to the Jersey shore in 2000.

    Langstaff was an exceptional athlete, captaining his high school basketball and baseball teams to state championships. According to a published obituary, he “most famously (and regularly) defeated his high school nemesis, Bill Parcells, by baiting him into losing his temper and making field errors."

On College Hill, Langstaff focused his studies in Greek and linguistics. He was a member of the baseball team, president of his class, and lobbied for the effort that eventually founded Kirkland College. Following his Hamilton graduation, he played one year in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, the obituary said, but an arm injury ended his professional baseball career.

Langstaff completed a master’s degree from Fordham University and taught English in Ardsley, N.Y., before joining the MacMillan Publishing Co. as a science editor. In 1991, he partnered with Janet Burke to found Clair Group LLC, a boutique IT consultancy for the financial services and tech industries, serving such clients as AT&T, Bell Labs, Citigroup, KPMG, Merrill Lynch, and New York University. The couple, who married in 1995, established the Lang Insurance Group in 2004, a Medicare insurance consultancy based in Spring Lake.

Langstaff was a man of many interests, including long-distance bicycling, history, fine wine, poetry, jazz, humor, and the New York Jets, the obituary noted.

Richard W. Langstaff died on Oct. 10, 2018. He was 76. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his first wife, the former Jeanette Sullivan, whom he had married in 1967.

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