Richard Harding ’41 died on May 20, 2018, in Lexington, Massachusetts.

(The following was published in the Vineyard Gazette on May 30, 2018):

Richard (Dick) Harding of Lexington died on May 20 after a brief illness. He was ninety-nine.

He was an avid sportsman, participating in baseball, ice hockey, and golf throughout his years at Lexington High School and Bowdoin College. He was a member of the first Lexington High School hockey team in 1936 and captain of the hockey and baseball teams at Bowdoin. His love of golf never ended throughout his eighty-eight years as a member of the Lexington Golf Club, where he was Club Champion seven times. He was one of the founding members of the Lexington Ski Club, finally hanging up his skis at ninety-one.

Dick continued his education at Harvard University, completing his MBA after World War II. During the war he was a decorated Navy pilot on the USS Franklin and awarded six air medals and the Silver Star for the Battle of Leyete Gulf. He began and ended his career as a sales representative and national sales manager for Merckens Chocolate Company, now a division of Kraft/Heinz.

Dick was predeceased by his wife of sixty years, Barbara (Del), and his sister Barbara, who died at 100, and her husband E. Gordon Kakas. He is survived by his children and spouses: Richard and Debra Harding, Janice and Peter Cronstrom of Dunstable, and James and Andrea Harding of Lexington; grandchildren Christine, Ricky and wife Tracey, Jeff and wife Manjola, Kristen and husband Tri, Kelley, and Matthew; and five great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his niece Sallyann Kakas and her children RK, Elise and Christian Quebec.

As a close friend recently stated, “He was an officer and a humble gentleman, and will leave a big hole in a lot of lives.”