Harold Leonard Richardson

Len Richardson passed away on September 29, 2017 at the age of ninety at Spring Lake Village in Santa Rosa, California. He leaves his wife of 68 years Virginia Giesen Richardson, his sons Harold III and John and daughter Victoria as well as granddaughters Margaret Richardson, Elizabeth Richardson Dicker and great grandchildren Lucy and Henry Dicker. Len was born and grew up in Steuben County, New York. He graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and from Yale University, and earned a graduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

His career was dedicated to independent school education. He taught at The Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey, and at Maumee Valley Country Day School in Toledo, Ohio. At each of these schools he started a glee club and staged musical productions as well as teaching English. In 1959 he became head of Scarborough School in Scarborough, New York, before heading west in 1966 to head the Branson School in Ross, California. In 1971, he founded Educators Collaborative, a firm composed of former independent school headmasters who worked with schools and boards of trustees providing leadership advice and head searches worldwide. He also served on the boards of Marin Country Day School and the Cathedral School for Boys in San Francisco.

Len’s greatest joy came from his participation as a second bass with perfect pitch in choral singing. At Yale, he was a member of the Glee Club and later sang in the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and in the chorus at the Bohemian Club in San Francisco for more than forty years.

A memorial service will be held at 3pm Thursday, October 5, 2017 at Spring Lake Village, Santa Rosa.