Richard Nelson Washburn Obituary

With heavy hearts, we announce the death of Richard N Washburn (Cliffside Park, New Jersey), who passed away on April 11, 2020 at age 90. Family and friends are welcome to leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family.

Richard was born to Helen and Kenneth Washburn on Jan 12, 1930 in Ithaca, NY. His younger brother Carl was born two years later, and the two of them later attended Cornell University where their father Kenneth was a professor of Fine Arts.

In 1949 Richard was bitten by the theater bug and began working in New York City as a Theatre Technician where he showed an aptitude for troubleshooting electronic equipment. Coincidentally, his future wife Nancy Paddock was working as a theatre actress in New York City at the same time, but they didn’t meet until many years later.

In 1957 Richard moved to Syracuse, NY where he worked for J.R. Clancy Inc. as a draftsman, designing theatre rigging and controls for motorized equipment. It was there he met Nancy, and they married in 1961. Afterwards, Richard began working as a contractor for a series of employers including IBM and GE, during which time he contributed to the military’s NIKE-X project and many other technical efforts.

In 1968 Richard and Nancy relocated to Cliffside Park, New Jersey where they remained for the rest of their lives. Richard worked as a designer and engineer at Fair Lawn’s American Can Company from 1969 to 1980, and later worked as a project engineer for Austin Associates in Northvale. Richard referred to his time with Austin Associates as “the best years of my life,” as he had nothing but praise for his work, his co-workers, and his boss.

A business trip in 1979 to China had a profound influence on his life as he became enamored of Chinese culture there. He began studying the Chinese language, reading and collecting Chinese literature, visiting China as a tourist, and even decorating his apartment with Chinese art.

Retirement allowed Richard time to pursue his many hobbies and visit family. He read and collected hundreds of books; his library showcased the works of dozens of his favorite authors, including Dickens, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, Amy Tan and many more. His interest in the theater never dimmed, as he also owned a large collection of plays, ranging from the collected works of Shakespeare to 20th century playwrights like Arthur Miller and Neil Simon. His father Kenneth’s art career clearly stoked Richard’s interest in visual arts, as he routinely visited New York City area art galleries and collected high quality art prints for his home. In the early 2010's he was inspired to create a large digital photo archive of his father’s paintings, drawings and other works. In visits to his father’s widow Carmen in California, he indexed and photographed hundreds of paintings and sculptures. Back home, he converted some of the digital photos into high quality canvas prints for displays and gifts. He also pursued his long standing career interests in electronics, robotics, microcontroller technology and computer programming, subscribing to tech magazines, constructing electronics, and participating in programming and robotics online user groups.

Following the passing of his wife Nancy in 2012, Richard enjoyed spending time with his niece and nephews from his brother Carl’s side and his relatives from Carmen’s side in California. Although by then in his 80s, he made many trips to visit them in New York, Virginia, California and North Carolina.

Richard is survived by his niece Katrina and by his nephews Lars, Kent, and Charles.