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Articles and extended tributes by other financial writers can be found under the "stories" tab.
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Tributes
Leave a tributecarry a little note he wrote to me many years ago. It is beyond words
to love someone we've never met....that is how I felt about Richard
Russell. He was a giant not only among men, but among his peers
whose knowledge could not compare to Richard's understanding not
only of the markets, but about life. I loved the way he thought. When
I read one of his letters before his passing, I knew he was leaving...he
made a comment to his daughter, something about, "what's the point?"
His zest for life over the years was inspiration. But he was getting tired and this old world misses him beyond measure. So I talk to him in the
cosmos and I say, "I hope to meet you the next go around"...Love you
Richard Russell
His PTI and daily thoughts were a must read for me.
I miss him
Bob Weir
I sincerely offer my condolences to Richard's family and to the staff at Dow Theory Letters, for your heavy loss.
Jackie Rosner
New York City
Thank You also for going to the 'other side' at this very important moment in time to help us all on planet earth complete the most important divine mission of our time ~~~ Carry On In Peace ~~~
I bought gold mining shares in Aug 1973 as a result of his recommendation and doubled my money on them.
My father helped Richard when he had a heart condition. Reading his letters meant the world to me as young man. My dad and I always shared our thoughts, after the knowledge put on paper by Richard.
Thank you so much Richard Russell, you were loved by many..
C.W.
Blessings to you!
And congratulations on your graduation to a new level!
So you got into Louise Hay, Emmet Fox, etc. toward the end of your visit to the Earth plane. You started to get into the good stuff! Maybe you explored the writings of others like Ernest Holmes, Eric Butterworth, H. Emilie Cady, Charles Fillmore, Myrtle Fillmore, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Florence Scovel Shinn, Catherine Ponder and more.
You began to tune into the Unity vibration, (unity.org), and their excellent publication Daily Word, (daily word.org).
By now you realize you picked your parents according to a resonance that you wanted. You also know that we live forever, we just keep changing vehicles. Your vehicle for this life served you well.
Best of luck in your future journeys, Richard. Will catch up with you later.
Blessings,
jpb
I just turned 46, and I literally grew up with this guy. I am so blessed financially, and much of that comes from the lessons I learned from Richard.
Richard Russell, you have had a tremendously positive impact on my life. thank you
Daria, we met when Anita & I were visiting our daughter's family in San Diego almost 3 years ago. You accepted our request to "stop by", meet you, say hello to Richard and visit for a brief time. That moment is indelibly inscribed in my memory. You see I've been a subscriber to DTL ever since Marty Zweig transferred all his subscribers from "Zweig Forecast" to DTL and retired. That must have been in the early '80's or so. It's been a long time.
I felt a certain kinship with Richard, although we had never previously met. He and I were born in the same month, so we’re both "Leo's". We shared a similar military background - I flew bombers (B-52's) in Vietnam, and we both had an avid interest in trying to figure out the various movements of "the markets". Through my DTL subscription, Richard introduced me to technical analysis and among the most memorable quotes that I remember was the one he often repeated: "My PTI is always smarter than I am, so I must learn to follow it." ---- or words to that effect.
I was deeply saddened to hear of Richard's passing - not surprised ... but deeply saddened. He was one of a kind and perhaps you saw John Mauldin's wonderful recognition of him in his 11/25 issue of Outside The Box. In a separate email, I have sent you a copy.
Richard Russell was an icon in the investment and financial community. There's never been and most likely never will be another individual like him. We will remember him always.
Daria, thank you very much for opening your doors to us in La Jolla on April 11, 2013 and inviting the Parkhursts in for a brief visit with you and Richard. We will forever remember the kind hospitality of both of you.
Please accept both Anita's and my deepest sympathies to you, Daria, and the entire Russell family.
--Perry & Anita Parkhurst (from Michigan)
During that time he was invariably a close friend, mentor and role model for me.
I recall reading that a primary gender difference between humans
Is that a women’s persona is primarily based upon who she was while a man’s was based upon what he did.
Certainly Richard both believed and conformed to that observation.
By almost any metric I would consider Richard’s life to be a full and extremely successful one.
Gerry Gurtman
We will miss his insight, wisdom, and historical perspective. Rest in Peace my friend.
Through the years, I attended several of his worthwhile appearances in relevant venues, the last of which was the tribute to Richard that John Mauldin arranged on April 4, 2009. During the brief question & answer period, I popped up and asked Richard what he would do if he were running the country, to which he stated, “I wouldn’t do a thing. I’d allow the bear market to run its course.” Thunderous applause followed demonstrating his sage mastery and loving acceptance of his life’s work.
The longest term personal results of his sagacious advice struck me like lightning in 1972 when I turned to my wife and said, “We are selling our house & using proceeds to make investments he suggests.” What followed was amazing: The 4th largest unemployment rate in U.S. history, collapse of the San Diego housing market, 924% rise in the price of gold, 1,644% rise in price of silver, and wage & price controls.
Bold? You bet! Savvy? Right on! Love of family, staff, clients, cacti & life? Unequivocal! This is the vision of Richard that I will always have. Rest in the peace that you truly deserve, my friend.
Thank you for being part of my life for more than one quarter of a century. Your willingness to share your wisdom, experiences, and your
strength in interpreting the financial markets activities and trends have developed more excitement and enlightenment in my life. Your honesty and caring nature , and your achievement to correspond with individuals like myself of a different culture and race living across thousands of miles of oceans and territories , will forever stay in my memory of you.
Wishing you a blessed and safe journey.
With warm regards.
Thank you so much for introducing me to Emmet Fox and the spiritual path. That advice was worth it's weight in gold! I was blessed to have met you through the newsletter. You are the best. :-) I miss you.
I will miss your genuine writings, you were a true blessings. God loves you and your family.
I had the good fortune to meet him personally at the only conference in which he participated about five years ago near LaJolla. We spoke briefly about the markets. I specifically noticed and commented about his well-worn air force ring. He often wrote about its papal blessing and that he always wore it. This confirmed his story.
Richard's focus on Emmett Fox and Louise Hayes in these last years has sparked my interest and serious study of their works.
Richard Russell was a remarkable human being. I will sorely miss him.
Mychal P.Angelos, Chicago
It was always interesting to get Richard's daily comments. He had a perspective and writing talent that will be missed.We have lost a friend.
Robert Weir MD
I am greatful I can join with others in this tribute. RIP Mr. Russell.
——Curtis Beaird —
James Cannon
Leave a Tribute
I still have many of your WWII stories in my memory and some printed off. Miss the wisdom you shared so freely.
Forever missed,
Tom
College/Wartime Letters from Richard to my Dad
Hi, my father Herbert Hirsch was a high school classmate of Richard at Horace Mann. He passed around the same time as Richard. In going through his belongings I found a box stuffed with letters he received during World War 2 while he was both ROTC at Brown and serving overseas. Some of them are from Richard. They are well written, jocular and provide insights into these two young men. I would be happy to share them with any interested family members. I can be reached at lhirsch02@msn.com. My condolences on your loss. Laurence Hirsch
Times Square billboard:
from Mary Anne and Pamela Aden, The Aden Forecast
A LEGEND HAS PASSED
From The Aden Forecast – December 9, 2015
Our dear friend Richard Russell passed away on Saturday, November 21. He was 91 years old and it came as a sad surprise.
LARGER THAN LIFE
Richard was a person who was larger than life. He was a legend, a pioneer in the newsletter business, highly respected and filled with integrity.
He loved his work and his subscribers. Richard was active right up to the end, still writing his daily comments until days before he passed.
Richard was always very special to us and we’ll truly miss him. For nearly 40 years we’ve been proud to call him our friend and we were big fans even before we met him.
GREAT WRITING
We started reading Dow Theory Letters in 1976 and we loved it. Richard provided his view of the stock market via the Dow Theory method. He also did a lot of research on gold.
Dow Theory Letters was started in 1958. It was the longest investment letter continuously written by the same person and it was an inspiration.
His analysis was fascinating and we learned a great deal from him, not only about the markets but about life.
He often talked about philosophy, his life, family, his days as a bombardier during World War II and so much more. He basically shared his personal journey with his subscribers.
Like many of his subscribers we enjoyed his war stores. Since our late father was also in WWII, these stories hit home. That’s especially true because our father never discussed the war. Perhaps it was too painful, so hearing Richard’s WWII experiences filled a void in our own father’s past we never knew about.
BACK IN 1978
In 1978 we met Richard at an investment conference in the Bahamas. He was a speaker and we were attendees, and we were honored to talk to him at that conference.
When we told him we were market students he encouraged us to keep at it and this continued throughout our career, over the decades.
He was especially helpful when we started The Aden Forecast in the early 1980s. He was always available to give advice, ideas and tips, and we will forever be grateful.
Last year we attended his 90 year birthday party in La Jolla. It was a happy time with friends and family.
FAMILY FIRST
He always loved his family. His kids meant everything to him and he often talked about Daria, Nicole, Betsy, Ryan and Lauren, and his sister Kate.
He was also close to his former wives, especially Connie and Paula. Paula was Richard’s second wife and the mother of Ryan and Lauren. She worked with Richard for 30 years.
This alone says a lot about Richard. They were one big happy family and we were lucky to become friends with his family too.
During his last few years Richard became very spiritual. He was a devout follower of Louise Hay and Emmet Fox. He embraced the philosophy of love and peace, and he passed these words of wisdom on to his subscribers.
Like always, he shared his innermost thoughts. He was open, honest and real, and that’s what everyone loved about him.
Politics, religion, pop culture, global events, jazz, the past and the future... his subscribers knew where he stood on just about everything. And whether they agreed with him or not, they liked hearing his views.
MARKETS: His passion
But the markets were his real passion. As Richard often said... “I’ve spent two-thirds of my life studying and writing about the markets. And I’d say without a doubt the material that has served me best are the books and papers written by the great Dow Theorists -Charles H. Dow, who started the Wall Street Journal in 1889, William P. Hamilton, Robert Rhea and George Schaefer.”
Richard zeroed in on the Dow Theory and this became the basis of his research. Dow Theory is a technical tool that focuses on the primary market trend, or the big picture. It’s also based on market values.
His work came to the attention of Robert Bleiberg, the editor of Barron’s, who published one of Richard’s bullish articles. This created a lot of interest, bringing in hundreds of subscribers, and that’s how Dow Theory Letters was born.
Some years later Richard invented his own Primary Trend Index. This was devised to keep his subscribers on the right side of the major stock market trend. That is, a trend that would generally last at least a year or more.
As you know, we often quoted Richard Russell in these pages. That’s because he was the Dow Theory expert and he had a good track record, identifying some of the biggest moves over the past half century.
In 1958, for example, following his bullish Barron’s article, stocks kept rising until 1966 and he called the top. He advised buying gold stocks in the early 1960s and they surged in the years that followed.
Most impressive, he identified the stock market bottom in 1974 at a time when everyone was scared following its gut wrenching plunge. And he called the stock market top in 1987, prior to the biggest drop in history.
The gold bull market in the early 2000s was another great call. And it was always interesting to talk to Richard about the markets.
THE LAST DAYS
Our last correspondence with Richard was three weeks before he died, and we didn’t know he was sick. He sent us a photo that day and he looked good and happy. (The photo below was taken several years ago in La Jolla.)
We will miss our dear friend very much. In fact, the entire newsletter industry will be mourning the passing of this kind, brilliant, elegant statesman for many years to come.