Harold Andrew "Ric" Ricards Jr.

Ric Ricards passed away on August 28, 2012 of congestive heart failure. He was 95 years old, born in Baltimore, MD on June 21, 1917. His parents were Harold A. Ricards and Annette Simpson Ricards.

Ric attended Baltimore Friends School and was raised a Quaker. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1939 as a chemical engineer. He was a member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity, Pi Delta Epsilon, Omicron Delta Kappa and President of the Student Council. He earned a MS degree in Chemical Engineering in 1941 from MIT.

Ric began his career at the Standard Oil Development Co. It was interrupted by WW II when he was recruited to work on a secret project to develop the M-69 incendiary bomb for the Army Air Force, for which he holds the co-patent. He also was assigned to evaluate bombing effectiveness of RAF and US 8th AF and was present at the liberation of Buchenwald.

After the war, Ric resumed his 42 year career with Exxon; including Esso Research and Engineering in NJ, where he was granted numerous patents, Esso Marketing in NY, Humble Oil in Houston, TX as the Planning and Evaluation Mgr for all US marketing, and ended his career in 1982 in Memphis, TN as the Sales Director for the Central Region.

On Christmas Day 1943, he married the love of his life, Eleanor Connor of Baltimore. They lived in Westfield, NJ where they had two daughters, Andrea and Nancy. In 1961 they moved to Houston where they began their major family activity of showing quarter horses throughout the US.

Ric and Eleanor have been members of the First Congregational Church for fifty years. He belonged to the Civil War Round Table of NY and Houston, American Quarter Horse Association, and Train Collectors Association. He was a board member of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, English Speaking Union and Friendship Force International.

Ric’s lifetime interests were history, travel and sports. He researched and published a three-volume history of the Ricards family, starting in England and coming to Virginia in 1650. They traveled to 6 continents, 25 countries, with extensive stays in England, and spent 10 summers in Maine. As sports fans they attended 4 Olympic Games, 3 Wimbledon Tournaments and multiple Houston tournaments, and 2 British Opens. Ric and Eleanor enjoyed playing golf together throughout their travels. His passion for trains grew from a boyhood Christmas train set to an enormous antique Lionel train layout in their Houston home that brought him great joy and has been the focal point of many charity events.

Ric, loved by all, was a man of great intelligence, integrity, fairness, and wit. He was a devoted husband, loving father and grandfather, and a friend and mentor to all who knew him. Ric is survived by his loving wife of 68 years, Eleanor Connor Ricards, his children Andrea Ricards Lapsley and her husband Robert Lapsley, Nancy Ricards Primeaux and her husband Robert Primeaux, his grandsons Matthew Primeaux and fiance Emily Lauck and Michael Primeaux and wife Anna Primeaux, and sister-in-laws Gretchen and Nan Connor.

The family will receive friends from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Friday, August 31, 2012 at Memorial Oaks Funeral Home, 13001 Katy Freeway. The Memorial Service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, September 1 at the First Congregational Church, 10840 Beinhorn Road in Houston.

With his lifelong love of his dogs, cats and horses, Ric has requested that in his memory, donations be made to the animal charity of your choice.