Stefan Nicholson Richards

Born: Berkeley, CA on 1/31/1971 Died: Portland, OR 11/20/2023

Stefan passed away after battling complications of primary myelofibrosis, a rare blood cancer. After a successful stem cell transplant donated by his son, Nick, Stefan contracted a lung infection which is common in immunocompromised patients and passed away after a short stay in the hospital.

Stefan was born in Berkeley, California and lived in various cities in both northern and southern California throughout his youth. He later moved to Portland, Oregon, and lived in Vancouver, Camas, and Sammamish, Washington, before returning to live in Portland, where he lived until he passed away.

After graduating from University High School in 1989, Stefan enlisted in United States Marine Corps and completed boot camp at Camp Pendleton. He then went off to training in Alabama where he became an ammunition technician. He served in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Desert Shield in the Persian Gulf and attained the rank of Lance Corporal. He was honorably discharged after completing his service. He was incredibly proud of his military service. Stefan completed a bachelor’s degree in computer science at Oregon State University and graduated from University of Washington with a master’s in business administration (MBA).

Stefan specialized in information security, privacy and compliance working for many large companies including Intel, Microsoft, CorVel, and even served as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the entire State of Oregon for five years. He was well known in his field, and especially enjoyed mentoring and leading the incredible teams he worked with over the years.

While being a self-described “nerd,” Stefan found his equally “nerdy” wife, Tammy in 2001. In 2003, they were married in Portland, and enjoyed those pre-kid years watching endless movies, and making each other laugh constantly with ridiculous jokes and shenanigans. In 2006, Stefan and Tammy welcomed their first son, Nicholson “Nick,” and then in 2009, their second son, Jack, was born.

Stefan enjoyed everything from building Legos to working in his garage building incredible Halloween displays, but beyond anything else, he treasured his family and close friends, and his loyalty was legendary. Stefan was the kind of father who created real-life treasure hunts, made his own customized advent calendars, and cardboard forts with working doorknobs for his boys. He chaperoned pre-school trips to the zoo, and cheered on his boys during fun runs, baseball games and soccer matches. He never missed an opportunity to tell his boys how much he loved them and how proud he was of them. He loved his wife fiercely and made a point to let her know this. He also adored his kitties, Belle and Tia and could often find them curled up next to him, or in Tia’s case, on his chest as his “kitty beard.”

Stefan is preceded in death by his grandparents, Ivor and Braxton Robinson and Jeanette and Myron Richards, his parents, Stephen and Kerry Richards, and his cousin, Lynley Fogelsong (nee Richards). He is survived by his wife, Tammy Richards, his sons, Nicholson and Jack Richards, his brother, Robinson Richards, his aunts, Kathy Ribbens (Bill), Kim Boesche (Phil), and Kit Beale (Fred), his uncles, Byron Richards (Janet), Jeff Richards (Linda) and George Richards, his cousins, Christopher and Teddy Ribbens, Lisa Diebel (Jeff), Chris Richards (Mitch), Eric Richards (Allison), Andy Richards, Brandon Beale, Greg Boesche (Jennifer) and Matthew Boesche (Ashly), his nephews, Austin Mercier, Malik Navarrete, Andrew Richards, and Devrin Navarrete, his nieces Katelyn Kinman (Trevor) and Ashlyn Mercier, his sisters-in-law, Sara Navarette (Angel) and Melissa Mercier (Josh), and parents-in-law Dave and Judy Parmley, and of course, his Siberian Forest Cat, Tia.

Stefan asked that he have a private military honor guard service at Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Oregon. Attendance will be limited to close family and invited friends. In lieu of flowers, contributions to the Red Cross or the Wounded Warrior Project would be welcomed.