Hugh Richardson, Jr.

Hugh Richardson Jr. died on July 22, 2026, at the age of 96. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia on March 25, 1930 to Frances Arnold and Hugh I. Richardson, Atlanta natives, as were three of his four grandparents. He attended E. Rivers Kindergarten and graduated from E. Rivers Elementary School in 1943. He was a student at North Fulton High School, Darlington School, Rome, Georgia, and Episcopal High School, Alexandria, Virginia where since 1957 he was EHS' 1948 class secretary. He graduated from The Hill School, Pottstown, Pennsylvania in 1949 as had his father Hugh I. Richardson and uncle Lee Richardson. He graduated from Princeton University in 1953 as had his father in 1922 and grandfather Hugh Richardson in 1894, and who became the university's first southern trustee in 1918. As a Princeton alumnus, Hugh Jr. became secretary of the class of 1953.

After serving two years in the U.S. Army as a lieutenant in the Field Artillery, Hugh Jr. joined the small family commercial real estate firm, Richardson Realty Company, founded in Atlanta in 1896 by his grandfather Richardson. The company built, owned, and managed their properties. Hugh Jr. was president of the Building Owners & Managers of Atlanta (BOMA) in the early 1960s. As an infant, he was baptized at Atlanta's First Presbyterian Church. He formally joined the church in 1941 and served multiple times on the diaconate and was one of the oldest members.

He was an idolizer of the big bands, from Artie Shaw's Begin the Beguine to Ziggy Elman's And The Angels Sing. During his lifetime he owned over 500 recordings of big band music. Hugh Jr. secretly wanted to be a sportswriter. One of his happiest days was when the University of Georgia Sports Information Director, Dan Magill, allowed him to sit in the press box at Sanford Stadium for a UGA football game.

Hugh Jr. was predeceased by his parents, his paternal grandparents Hugh and Josephine Richardson, and his maternal grandparents Reuben and Frances Arnold. Atlanta-born attorney Arnold defended New Yorker Leo Frank in Atlanta in 1913 when Frank was accused of killing teenager Mary Phagan in a murder trial that attracted national attention. Hugh Jr. was also predeceased by sisters; Frances Howell Franklin, Jolie Richardson, a noted tennis player and an owner and rider of champion 5-gaited horses and his nephew, Hugh Howell. Survivors include nephews and nieces; Clark Howell (Jeannette), Frances Howell, Margaret Scott (Henry), Josephine Howell and their children.

Close friends and family are invited for remembrance on Tuesday, August 11 at 10:00 am at the First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, 1328 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30309. Anyone considering a note or charitable contribution should instead give a hug or a squeeze to a loved one in appreciation of his or her making it through these unpredictable times.