On July 11, 2011, Richard L. English passed away. Richard was a much beloved member of the Club who brought it into the modern era when he was President in the 1960's. His accomplishments on behalf of the Club are numerous. Below is just a sample of his work.
- First joined the NHBC as a junior member in 1946. His parents were members back into the 1920's. His isthe longest membership in the history of the NHBC.
- He and his parents (Philip and Katherine) were the first to join the NHBC as life members in the early 1970's. (note: we bestowed life membership on at least one other person before that, but they were the first to join at that level).
- He served as NHBC president from 1965-1967. This was during a period when NHBC was transitioning from somewhat of a social club interested in birds in the 1940's-1950's to a more hardcore birding group. It started in the early 1960's when folks like Mae McCabe, Tony Cosenza, and Bill Stoddard started to make various lists and restarted the New Haven CBC. We have almost no record of participation in CBC's during the 1940's-1950's - only one mention in 1953. The first one that appears in the minutes after that is the 1960 CBC which included Richard.
- Richard was in the middle of that crescendo of birding in the 1960's. After taking the torch from those mentioned above, he ran with people like Noble Proctor and Davis Finch, getting the club more and more involved in what we would consider "birding" as we know it today. He would then pass the torch to people like the George & Millie Letis and Fred Sibley.
- Two of Richard's biggest accomplishments for the club were 1) an update of our checklist in 1965. The previous checklist was done in the late 1920's. We've updated our New Haven County checklist several times since 1965, always relying on his notes from the 1960's. 2) He was one of the founders of our hawkwatch site at Lighthouse back in the 1970's.
- Richard (and his whole family) have been very generous towards parks and environmental concerns around the state, but especially in New Haven. There was an English on the New Haven Parks Commission for many years - preserving many of the places we hold near and dear (e.g. East Rock Park and Lighthouse Pt. Park). They donated money for parks and bird sanctuaries in many places. One such location is the Richard English Bird Sanctuary next to Deer Lake in Killingworth.
As many people can attest, Richard's greatest legacy was the way he mentored his fellow birders. Whether in the field or at a meeting, he was always open to teach, learn, and share.
