May you be celebrating and dancing with all your family and friends in heaven!  Happy Birthday my dear friend!  You are missed and remembered fondly!  

May the Spirit of God in You continue to live on and on and on!!!!

Yinka Sowemimo

Indeed fortunate to have met such a man!                                  

Because he seemed to have the capacity to embrace everyone, a few of us attending the Conference of Black Nationalities, in Osun Sate, fondly referred to him as the Village Mayor.

Richard was an amazing friend with ambitious goals for Nigeria. He was before his time wanting to provide solar power to villages throughout Nigeria. I had the privilege to travel several times to try to find a partner to sell solar throughout the country. Unfortunately ,  I was in a bad car accident that had caused me to become disabled and lost my company. On one of our trips Richard and I were on our way being driven from Lagos to Abuja. I remember being the only white man in the car in the back seat being driven through small villagesize as the small children ran along side yelling "white man, white man". On that same trip while still in Lagos a soldier had pulled us over and Richard had us leave my passport in our suitcase at his friends house reasoning we would be right back. I was in a suit and the soldier wanted my passport. Richard had got out of the car and argued with the soldier who had a machine gun swinging around. Finally Richard got back in the car and told the driver to "go, go". He then looked at me and said"I just bribed him $3000 nira to let us go!" He had me scared yet laughing so hard it hurt. I went to this site because I was looking for Richard to share his dream of solar power for Nigeria. So, ten years after his work I have been able to put together a deal and wanted to make Richard and his programs a part of it, even though ten years later, he meant that much to me. I hope he understands how much I cared for him and missed him. Back then I just sold the product and the USA economy tanked taking my company and my disabled self with it leaving Richard nothing for his work. Today I am able to supply the manufacturing equipment for building a Solar Power Manufacturering Plant in Nigeria want Richard to be a part of this success he wanted for his country Nigeria . I was hurt and shocked to find out he has passed on and won't be able to see his work fulfilled after all this time. I missed you as a friend Richard.

I was fortunate enough to meet Richard in October 2014 at a leadership institute we were both attending.  We became friends instantly.  He was an amazing person and I am truly honored that I got a chance to meet him and call him my friend.