FUNERAL SERVICES AND MEMORIALS

RICHARD ABELES June 28, 1937 - November 15, 2023

Walnut Creek — Richard “Rick” Abeles, 86, died peacefully on November 15, 2023 in Walnut Creek, CA. Born June 28, 1937 in Chicago, Rick graduated from Amherst College with a BA in Physics and later from Harvard Law School. He proudly served in the US Army Signal Corps and Army Reserve. While practicing law with Altheimer & Gray in Chicago, he met his wife, Kathy, and they married January 28, 1968.

In 1969, Rick and Kathy embarked on a trip around the world, eventually visiting 50 countries across South America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Along the way, they met numerous people who praised Santa Fe as a wonderful place to live. They decided to visit in 1971 and the attraction was instant. They moved to Santa Fe in 1975 and in 1979 had a daughter, Liza. In Santa Fe, Rick worked as a self-employed attorney, with a focus on real estate and commercial transactions. Rick was also exceptionally dedicated to supporting the Santa Fe community. In 1985, he co-founded the Santa Fe Children’s Museum, serving as its board president for many years. In the late 1980s, he was elected to the Santa Fe Metropolitan

Water Board, and in the 2000s, he served for nearly a decade as the president of the Santa Fe Community College Foundation board. In 2021, Rick and Kathy moved to California to be closer to their daughter and her family. Rick was both worldly and down-to-earth, and he was known and loved by many. He had an incredible memory, a wonderful sense of humor, and an insatiable curiosity. He loved making connections with people from all backgrounds, both in Santa Fe and across the world, and was named Honorary Consul of Costa Rica for the state of New Mexico from 1976-84.

Rick enjoyed travel, music of many genres, reading, and technology. He was a prodigious family genealogist, a fixture at the Santa Fe Ski Basin, and loved playing basketball and pickleball.

Rick is survived by his daughter Liza Abeles Lutzker, son-in-law Bobby Lutzker, and granddaughters Hazel and Thea Lutzker, all of Berkeley, CA, and his brother, Jerome Abeles, Jr. of Rancho Mirage, CA. His wife of 54 years, Kathy, passed away in November 2022. In lieu of flowers, donations in Rick’s memory can be made to the Santa Fe Community College Foundation:

https://foundation.sfcc.edu/