MEMORIAL SERVICE
9:30 AM
Saturday, February 24, 2024
at
Christ Church Episcopal – Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin

LIVE-STREAM LINK:  Christ Church Episcopal (christchurchwfb.org)

MEMORIALS
In lieu of flowers, his family asks that donations be made to:

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra: New Jersey Symphony (donate2.app)

The National Parks Foundation: Make A Gift – National Park Foundation (nationalparks.org)

Richard William Draper “Dick”

Chemist & Patent Holder, Avid Sailor, Loving Family Man,
Lifelong Boy Scout in North Caldwell and in His Native UK, 81.

Richard William “Dick” Draper, 81, passed away on January 25, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Son of Alice Draper (née Hinson), and William Frederick Draper, he was born December 12, 1942 in Friern Barnet, outside of London, England. He was awarded the Queen’s Scout Award, the highest youth award given to Boy Scouts in the United Kingdom. He attended university at Chelsea College at the University of London to study chemistry. He went on to earn his Ph.D in chemistry, advised by Nobel Prize-winning chemist Derek H.R. Barton of Imperial College in London. After receiving his doctorate, Richard moved to the United States in the late 1960s as a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY.

In the early 1970s, he began a career in synthetic organic chemistry at Schering-Plough in Bloomfield, NJ and then later Kenilworth, NJ.  Richard worked at Schering for over 30 years, where he authored or co-authored 16 patents.

Richard married Rebecca Carmona in 1972 and they raised two sons, David and Robert, in North Caldwell, NJ. Richard was a devoted husband and father and he shared his many passions with his family. Inspired by a love for classical music, he was a regular patron of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. He spent many years volunteering with the Boy Scouts of America Troop 1 in North Caldwell. He emphasized the importance and beauty in nature and constantly sought out the vast splendors of the natural world. He treasured being outdoors, whether tending to his garden of oversized vegetables, hiking the mountains in New Jersey and New York, or sailing his Island Packet, “Alcyone,” in the Chesapeake Bay.

Richard is survived by his wife, Rebecca; his brother, Frank (Pat) Draper, of Carlton Colville, England; and his children David (Susan) Draper, of Beulah, Michigan, and Robert (Elizabeth) Draper, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and three grandchildren, William, Beatrice, and Sophie Draper; and two step-grandchildren, John and Matthew Michalowski.