Necrology

Richard Aaron Mead '57

Mar. 5, 1936-Dec. 28, 2018

Richard Aaron Mead ’57, a family-described writer, thinker, wanderer, arts enthusiast, and fundraiser, lately of Burlingame, Calif., was born on March 5, 1936, in New York City, a son of the former Viola Hoffman, a teacher, and Edward Mead, an attorney. He graduated from Forest Hills High School in New York City.

At Hamilton, Mead majored in English literature and was a member of the Charlatans, College Choir, and Sigma Phi fraternity. After studying for a time at the New School in New York City, he earned a master’s in government and international relations from New York University in 1967.

Mead’s work was a mix of the arts and social justice. He worked as assistant director of the Empire State Foundation before his appointment as assistant executive officer of The New York Public Library. Mead went on to work in development roles at the American Shakespeare Theatre, Henry Street Settlement, Carnegie Hall, and Lena Park Community Development Association in Boston, according to his daughter Darya Mead. He also had a long connection to Boys Harbor, now called Boys and Girls Harbor, an educational organization for inner-city children.

Mead helped countless people with his proud advocacy for those with depression and bipolar disorder, a condition from which he suffered himself, as chronicled in his 2001 book, Yes You Can! He also remarked on how being bipolar impacted his years on the Hill. For his 50th reunion yearbook he wrote, “I have great respect for Hamilton and I’m proud of it; rich tradition, faculty, fine education, beautiful campus. I take integrity and intellectual commitment from it. I regret my underachievement at College, which I believe reflected on my bipolar disorder.”

Mead lived variously in Greenwich Village, Boston, and San Francisco, and spent the last few months in Burlingame to be near family. He was a lifelong fan of New York sports teams — Yankees, Knicks, and Rangers — and traveled all over the world, boasting he had visited 46 countries. “He was a character, a good man, and the world was a better place while he was in it,” Darya Mead added.

Mead died on Dec. 28, 2018. He was 82 years old. He is survived by two daughters, four grandchildren, and his former wife, Cynthia Nicholls Mead, with whom he remained friends.

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