Michael T. Richman ’65 died on February 12, 2025, in Portland, Maine.
Michael Tingley Richman ’65
(The following was provided by the Washington Post on February 26, 2025:)
Michael Tingley Richman, PhD, 81, beloved father and grandfather, died peacefully at home surrounded by family on February 12, 2025, after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer.
Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on April 13, 1943, Dr. Richman was raised in Washington, DC, where he graduated from St. Albans School. He received his BA from Bowdoin College in 1965, his MA from George Washington University, and his PhD from the University of Delaware in art history, specializing in late nineteenth and early twentieth century public sculpture and monuments.
Dr. Richman was one of the world’s leading experts on the life and works of Daniel Chester French, sculptor of some of America’s most iconic monuments including the Lincoln Memorial and the Minuteman Statue. Among Dr. Richman’s proudest professional accomplishments was curating a retrospective of French’s sculpture, “Daniel Chester French: An American Sculptor,” which opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1976 and traveled across the country.
During his forty-plus year career, he taught and lectured at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University; worked at the National Trust for Historic Preservation; and served as a historical consultant for the Korean War and World War II Memorials on the National Mall and for the Dwight David Eisenhower Memorial Commission. He edited the French Papers, a project completed by Dan Preston, and conducted an inventory of public sculpture in Washington, DC, on behalf of the National Park Service.
He translated his deep love of education, art, and history into many other aspects of his life. He was actively involved in community education as PTA president of Rolling Terrace Elementary School, Takoma Park, MD, and Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, MD.
In 2007, Dr. Richman retired to Portland, Maine, to be closer to family, friends, and his beloved Great Cranberry Island, where he summered in childhood. Dr. Richman leaves sister Renn; former wife, Elisabeth; children Brad and Katherine; grandchildren Miranda, Aidan, and Grady; and his many wonderful friends. He joins sister, Robin, who passed in February 2009.