Richard Anderson Ware, 95, died Oct. 29, 2015, having lived with prostate cancer since 1990.
He was born in New York City on Nov. 7, 1919, to Dr. and Mrs. John S. Ware of Staten Island. Richard was proud of his Irish and Scottish heritage and of his ancestors who served in the Continental Army, American Revolution and the Union Army in the Civil War.
Ware received a bachelor’s degree with high honors from Lehigh University in 1941 and the Phi Beta Kappa and Williams Senior Prize. He earned the degree of master of public administration in 1943 from Wayne State University. In 1988, he was awarded an honorary doctor of social science by Francisco Marroquin University (Guatemala).
After World War II service (1942-45) with the Lend Lease Administration and the US Army Air Force, he conducted studies in state and local government in Michigan (1946-56), and later managed a grant-making program in the social sciences as Secretary and President-Trustee of Earhart and Relm Foundations in Ann Arbor, Michigan (1951-85).
He continued as a trustee through 2004 when elected Emeritus. Ware was active in Ann Arbor affairs including: Nine years as a member and chair on the City Planning Commission; 15 years as a bank director; seven years as president of the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation and president of the United Way.
Ware was granted leaves of absence from his usual duties to take on special assignments. These included service on the research staff of the Republican National Committee (1964) for the presidential campaign. He served in the first Nixon Administration as acting assistant secretary and principal deputy assistant secretary of defense and consultant (military rank of Lt. Gen.) to the office of International Security Affairs from 1969-73. President Reagan appointed him three times to the board of Foreign Scholarships (six years), (the current Fulbright Exchange Program), to which he was then elected vice chair and later chair.
Throughout his career, Ware was on advisory committees of numerous organizations including: The Citadel, University of Chicago, Smith College, Tufts University and the Council of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In 1979, he became a director (later director emeritus) of the Liberty Fund of Indianapolis.
Beginning in 1949, he was active in the affairs of the Mont Pelerin Society, a group of international scholars furthering the study of economic and political freedom. Ware visited many countries, i.e., Australia, Austria, British Isles, Canada, Central America, Eire, Estonia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, South Vietnam, Soviet Union and Siberia, Switzerland, Taiwan and Thailand.
Ware was the recipient of numerous professional achievement awards including: the Sec. of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Medal (1970); election to the Cosmos Club Washington, D.C. (1972); election as a Fellow in Chile (2000); selection to The Mont Pelerin Society; recipient of the Hoeflich Lifetime Achievement Award of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (2006); and selection as a Distinguished Member to The Philadelphia Society (2012).
Ware’s memberships included: the Ann Arbor Club, Barton Hills Country Club (Ann Arbor), North Conway Country Club, the First Church of Christ, Congregational United Church of Christ and the N.H. Society Sons of the American Revolution. His memberships in the Appalachian Mountain Club (Four Thousand Footers), the American Political Science Association and the Governmental Research Association span a period of over 50 years.
The Ware Family visits to Kearsarge began in 1920 at Russell Cottages. Beginning in 1924 the family occupied a cottage on Old Bartlett Road. Summers and permanent residency on Hurricane Mtn. Road began in 1966, where Richard Ware resided until his death. Enjoyment was found in a lifetime of hiking (reaching 150 White Mountain summits). He climbed in Maine, New York, Vermont, England, Scotland, Switzerland and Austria. He was a lifetime golfer and addicted to XC skiing.
As a valley resident, Ware served on the boards of the Kearsarge Lighting Precinct, Kearsarge Cemetery Association, North Conway Library, Pequawket Foundation (president and later an honorary trustee), Tin Mountain Conservation Center and Vaughan Community Service (also president), as well as a member of the Green Hills Preserve Management Advisory Committee.
Nobel Laureate Professor Milton Friedman once wrote: “Through the Earhart and Relm Foundations, Dick, in his quiet, unobtrusive way, had played a major role in the revival of intellectual understanding of, and support for, a free society.”
Richard A. Ware was preceded in death by a daughter, Janet, in 1973 (auto accident at college); a brother, Donald of South Carolina in 1993; his second wife of 37 years, Dr. Beverly G. Ware in 2008.
He is survived by his first wife of 30 years, Lucille Stimpson of Phoenix, Ariz.; children, Alexander W. Ware of Sedona, Ariz., Dr. Bradley J. Ware of Fall River, Mass.; and Patricia E. Ware of Phoenix; a granddaughter, Alison E. Ernst; and two great-grandsons currently residing in Phoenix. There are a number of caring and loving nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held Friday, Nov. 6, at 11 a.m. in the First Church of Christ Congregational in North Conway with the Rev. Gilman Healy, pastor, officiating.
Burial will be in the Kearsarge Cemetery in Kearsarge. There will be no visiting hours.
The Furber and White Funeral Home in North Conway is in charge of arrangements.
Source: The Conway Daily Sun, on-line
