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• Dick Bennett Memorial This Saturday May 6, 2PM

Dick Bennett Memorial This Saturday May 6, 2PM

Menlo Masters,

As we go about celebrating life daily, we sometimes need to say goodbye and thank the people who have affected our lives.  This Saturday is time to pay our respects to our friend, teammate and coach.

Richard Lee Bennett died on Saturday, March 25 at his home on the Stanford campus.  He had battled multiple myeloma for five years,

Born in Fresno on October 9, 1930, Dick grew up in Kaimuki, Oahu, Hawaii.  He graduated from Punahou School in 1947, attended Dartmouth College for one year, attended Hartnell College in Salinas briefly before transferring to Stanford University, where he was a member of the NROTC unit.  On the swim team, he earned his Block S.  He was a member of the El Campo Eating Club, the Menis Glee Club, and Alpha Phi Omega.  He received his AB in Mathematics in 1952 and a master's in education in 1953.  

After graduation, he married Lois Mixter of Atherton (Stanford '52) and began his Navy career, entering flight training at Pensacola, Florida.  He was a helicopter pilot on aircraft carriers during his first tour of duty, followed by duty in Hawaii and further carrier duty.  (His favorite group call sign was Heavenly Angels.  He left the Navy in 1959, worked briefly at AMPEX in Redwood City and then began a long career at Stanford University in the Development Office.

Dick worked in development for Stanford for twenty-six years.  He served in numerous key administrative positions, including Director of the Annual Fund and Associate Campaign Director for the university's $1.1-billion Centennial Campaign.  His analytical and planning skills were legendary, and created much of the foundation for that campaign.  

At the Woodside Village Church in Woodside, Dick was a deacon and served as moderator.  He was a Trustee of The Girls' Middle School in Mountain View,  Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, serving there during a critical fundraising campaign. He also served as interim Vice President for Development at Mills College in Oakland and spent 13 years on the Outreach Committee of the Peninsula Community Foundation.  After retiring from Stanford in 1992, Dick volunteered for the Stanford Associates, helping raise money for the rebuilding of the Main Library after the earthquake and earning their Outstanding Achievement award..

Dick was a Renaissance man, with life enough for two.  He was courageous, generous, and an exceptional friend, husband, father, and teacher.  Among master swimmers, it was commonly said that he could teach a brick to swim - and not let the brick feel bad about how hard it was.  He won a shelf full of medals, including gold medals in national competition, and throughout his lifetime looked forward to entering the next age bracket, where he was sure to win the 200-meter backstroke, his signature event.  He and his wife Ann reveled in swim meets and open-ocean relay events and traveled throughout the United States to compete.    

He was also a skilled fly fisherman and outdoorsman, as comfortable in the Sierras under a fifty-pound backpack as he was with a briefcase in San Francisco.  The fresh trout he fried for a camp dinner were so tasty that nothing was left on the bones.  Before goose-down garments became commonplace, Dick bought kits and sewed his own with such skill that he had requests from envious friends.

Astronomy was a lifelong interest for Dick.  When his daughters were young, he would wake them early to view an oastronomical delight, often a conjunction of a fingernail-sliver moon and planet in the east.  Throughout his adult years, dinner guests would be invited outside after a meal to see an unusual alignment of the planets, a new comet, or a satellite.  He seemed to know all the constellations by heart, and where to look for them at any time of year.

When he retired,  he and his wife Ann restored on old house on the campus where children, grandchildren and friends were always welcome.

Dick's elder daughter, Margery Lynne-Bennett Corben, predeceased him in 2005.  He is survived by his wife, Ann Kay of Stanford, his daughter, Lisa Bennett of Pacific Grove, a sister, Susan Bennett Harris of Aromas, and numerous grandchildren, nieces and nephews.  

There will be a celebration of Dick's life on May 13 at 2 pm at his home at 792 Santa Maria, Stanford

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