Necrology

Richard Putnam Perkins '61

Dec. 8, 1939-Oct. 27, 2020

Richard Putnam Perkins ’61 died in Fort Myers, Fla., on Oct. 27, 2020. Born in Springfield, Mass., he came to Hamilton from Montpelier (Vt.) High School. At Hamilton, he majored in chemistry and biology and was a member of Gryphon. While on the Hill, he sang in both the College Choir and the Buffers, and was on the staff of The Spectator and WHCL. He also played intramural softball.

From Hamilton, Richard proceeded to the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, earning an M.D. degree in 1965. In 1965 and 1966, he interned at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.Y., and completed his residency in 1971 at the Sloane Hospital for Women, a part of the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. He served for two years in the Army while stationed at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Aurora, Colo.

Thereafter, Richard began a career in academic medicine that took him all over the country as he either established or enhanced programs in obstetrical medicine in Hershey, Pa., Albuquerque, N.M., Las Vegas (twice), Honolulu, Omaha, Neb., Encino, Calif., and Memphis, Tenn. 

He stepped away from academic medicine into private practice, focusing on high-risk pregnancy care, and again began a professional odyssey starting in Los Angeles and followed by West Palm Beach, Fla., Memphis, again, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Oakland, Calif., DuBois, Pa., and finally Fort Myers, Fla.

Richard published extensively in his field, reviewed papers for various medical journals, and in 1987 was given the Purdue-Frederick Outstanding Investigator award. 

Given the breadth and depth of his immersion in his specialty, Richard had little time for outside pursuits, but later in life he became something of a photographer (“semi-professional” is what he called it).

Hamilton meant a great deal to him. In his 50th reunion yearbook, he noted that Otto Liedke taught him “lots of German and much about dedicated teachers who care deeply about every student.” Austin Briggs helped him “learn how to communicate on paper,” while “‘Swampy’ Marsh allowed me the privilege of exercising my verbal skills with comfort and precision.” Overall, the College enabled him “to receive the individual attention that resulted in my strengths being strengthened and my weaknesses to be exposed undeniably, with a means to correct them.” Among his fondest memories was when “my fraternity brothers shed the albatross of bigotry and recruiting restrictions and became Gryphon.” 

At the same time, he spoke for generations of Hamilton men when he lamented the fact that “socially, though, in the late ’50s, when Hamilton was still all men, that time was far from the optimal preparation for entering a world of the equality of sexes, if one were to regard women as whole human beings with whom to share life in its fullest potential. There was so little time to develop relationships.”

Richard P. Perkins is survived by three sons.

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