Richard Edward Thompson

Richard Edward Thompson, passed away February 3, 2020. He was born in Houston Texas November 10, 1940 to Walter and Dorothy Thompson. He was married to Mary Lee Meider Thompson for many wonderful years. He graduated from Milby High School in Houston where he participated in ROTC and with the Boy Scouts eventually becoming an Eagle Scout and other activities. He graduated from the University of Texas with a physics degree and then RIT in Rochester New York Masters in Photographic Science. Richard went to work for NASA/Johnson Space Center in (JSC) in 1964. He was very proud of the work he did on the Hasselblad Cameras during the Gemini and Apollo missions. He made several trips to Sweden to work with Mr. Hasselblad and his group. His cameras took many beautiful space photos and he always considered the Earth Rise photo from Apollo 8 his photo. In the early 1970’s he went to work as head of the photo lab at JSC an in the 80’s was Division Chief in Facilities. He had several NASA patents and received many awards including the Exceptional Service Medal. He had a long and very distinguished career and was very proud of all his accomplishments.

Richard and Mary Lee spent many years traveling the world. He loved to travel.

He is preceded in death by his parents, and his first wife Sharon and his son-in-law Gustavo Rodriquez.

He is survived by his wife Mary Lee, his son Eric Thompson, daughter Alisa Rodriquez, grandchildren Gabriel and Rebecca, his stepdaughter Dawn Lowe, his sister-in-law and brother-in-law Pat and Brady Langford and sisters Peggy Manning (Dennis) and Joan McNew (Claude).

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Grand Central Station, P. O Box 4777, New York, NY 10163-4777

Visitation will be held Friday, February 7th from 9:00-10:00AM in the Chapel of Forest Park East Funeral Home located at 21620 Gulf Freeway Webster, Texas. A Celebration of Richard’s Life will begin at 10:00AM. Immediately following he will be laid to rest at Forest Park East Cemetery.