Richard Sugarman

East Lyme — Richard Steven Sugarman, 72, of Niantic, died at peace on Saturday, Aug. 11, 2018, having just finished swimming while working on his beloved catamaran, Ocean Gypsy. Cause of death was an instant heart attack when emerging from the water at the beach. Richard had a heart anomaly, IHSS, diagnosed in 1998.

Richard was born in the Bronx, N.Y., on June 13, 1946, the son of June and Tracy Sugarman. His first few years, according to him, made him “a New Yorker in his blood” but he actually spent most of his childhood growing up in Westport. It was in Westport where he developed a lifelong love of the sea and sailing. He attended Staples High School where he was active in student government and sang with the Orphenians and the A Cappella Choir. After graduating high school in 1964, he attended Brown University, singing a cappella with the Jabberwocks and graduating with a degree in sociology in 1968. He met his wife, Linda, shortly thereafter, and they were married in 1970. Their daughter, Casey, was born in 1972.

While still in college, Richard spent the summer of 1965 as a civil rights worker with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Forrest City, Ark. He remained committed to working for social justice in all areas of concern throughout his life. Google “URI Richard Sugarman” for an hour-long interview.

He helped schools, hospitals, veterans, police, fire, nurses, group homes and service organizations of all kinds over his 40 years in local practice. If you needed help in helping people, Richard was there for you!

After his graduation from Brown, he spent a short time as a teacher in inner city schools in Bridgeport. The work was frustrating because he could not help the students who deeply needed more help than the schools could provide.

Beginning in 1969, Richard worked for many years with troubled children from six to 16 in a residential treatment center, The Children’s Center in Hamden. Realizing that he had found his calling, Richard attended the University of Connecticut Farmington’s Graduate School of Social Work, receiving his MSW in 1974. He had been a practicing clinical social worker ever since. His first job was at Elmcrest in Portland where he developed the first-ever adolescent unit in a general population psych hospital, based on the principles of group dynamics. He left in 1976, long before the hospital was sold to St. Francis’ Hospital network. He moved to the New London area with his family in early 1978 and opened his independent private practice.

From the outset, he set up his office to be a workspace for a group of independent practitioners, sharing rent, knowledge and resources, never taking income from the associates he brought into the fold. “Many oars row the boat,” he would say, and yet he helped to give it direction by being the office manager and by sharing his earned-overtime expertise and experience.

Richard personally helped many hundreds of clients and thousands of people over the years. He was a lighthouse for many. He loved the work, the hard work, always going above and beyond for everyone who needed him. Richard also loved life outside of work. He learned early the value of vacation and resting the mind. He actually did attend Woodstock and brought his big St. Bernard, Potbelly, with him. While there, he was famously nicked by guitar pieces flung by Jimi Hendrix. He loved rock and roll, drumming, loud music of all kinds, and his friends knew him as the king of the “Master Blaster” road trip to anywhere for any good reason.

Richard will be remembered by all who knew him as not only interested, curious and caring but also exuberant, passionate and endlessly imaginative! He was larger than life. Everything he did, he did in a big way. He was devoted to his wife, his daughter, his extended family, the family animals and his beautiful boat, Ocean Gypsy. All who knew and loved him will miss him beyond measure.

Richard is survived by his wife, Linda Sugarman; their daughter, Casey Sugarman; his sister, Laurie Sugarman-Whittier, and her husband, David Whittier; three nieces, one nephew, two grandnieces and two grandnephews.

In lieu of flowers, all donations may be made to Southern Poverty Law Center, AL https://www.splcenter.org/.

A memorial gathering for Richard Sugarman, MSW, LCSW, will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. Oct. 14, 2018, at Port ’N Starboard at Ocean Beach in New London.

All who wish to join the gathering are welcome.