Richard Murcott Obituary

This obituary was written by Richard’s son Dave.

We lost our father, Richard, Saturday.  Born in Queens in 1936, he went to Union College and studied Chemistry because it was the hardest subject.  Served in the Air Force during the Cold War, stationed at Scullthorpe Air Force Base in Northern England, where he first became interested in Rhododendrons.

Devoting his life to helping people, he spent Friday Nights going to Goldwater Hospital on Roosevelt Island bringing the patients pizza.  I asked him how that started and he said his church used to do it and when they stopped he thought that if no one else will do it he’d just do it by himself, and he did it for 40 years.

In 1970 he and my mother moved the family to Muttontown so he could grow rhododendrons and chrysanthemums, where he eventually became an award winning grower and judge for both.  As children, saturdays in May meant tour busses parked on the street so garden club member could walk the 3 acres of gardens.

He served his local community by being a member of the Muttontown Village Board, served on the Board of Zoning Appeals and then 8 years as Mayor of Muttontown and an Elder of the East Norwich Methodist Church.

He loved to feed people, too.  Bread was his favorite, but also a great cook and Uncle Dick’s Famous Chocolate Cake was a fan favorite at holidays along with many other desserts.

He had 5 children and 13 grandchildren and up until one week ago, Easter, we spent almost every Sunday dinner together.

He will be missed

Here are some videos from his friend Bert: