J. Richard Thomas died on Jan. 19, 2020 from complications of heart disease.

He graduated from Gilman School in 1943 and Princeton University in 1947 and served as an officer in the Marine Corps in World War II and the Korean Conflict having been recalled to active duty with the 11th Engineering Battalion stationed at Fort McHenry. He was always very proud to say that he was a Marine.

Following graduation from Princeton, he joined The Equitable Life Assurance Society and he remained a representative of that company for 73 years. He was a past president of The Baltimore Chapter of Chartered Life Underwriters and a member of the board of the Baltimore Life Underwriters Association and served on numerous other boards and committees serving the life insurance profession.

He likewise served on the board of the Maryland Red Cross, the Baltimore Area Boy Scouts, the YMCA of Central Maryland, the Sotterley Preservation Foundation, the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Baltimore Symphony. He was a past president of the Princeton Alumni Association of Maryland and of the Churchman’s Club of Maryland and the Maryland Children’s Aid Society which organization was merged into the Family and Children’s Society.

He and his wife owned a house on Squirrel Island, Maine where he was the president of The Squirrel Island Preservation Foundation, a trustee of the Squirrel Island Chapel, and the chairman of the Squirrel Island Board of Overseers. He particularly like to attend any and all meetings as they gave him a excuse not to have to swim in the cold Maine waters.

There will be a memorial service for Mr. Thomas at The Church of The Redeemer in Baltimore on Jan. 31 at 4 p.m. His ashes will be buried in his family cemetery at Deep Falls Farm.

He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Mary McCormick Thomas; his daughter, Mary Stuart Thomas Gillespie and her husband Paul; sons, James Richard Thomas Jr. and his wife Joan, Henry Briscoe Thomas and his wife Tina, and William McCormick Thomas and his wife Sally; as well as 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his brother, Andrew Banks Thomas. Two other brothers, Henry Briscoe Thomas and Robert Mason Thomas, predeceased him.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Squirrel Island Chapel and mail to Treasurer Allan Roberston, P.O. Box 177, Newfields, NH 03856