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 After graduation from Dearborn High, Rich attended the U of M Ann Arbor where he received a B.A. in English Literature and Theater. He performed in several plays while at the U of M and he did community
theater after his graduation in 1989. Although he loved the theater, it was programming that paid his bills. He worked for 14 years as a programmer and a consultant and co-authored several books on the subject.
Rich married Kathy Wolley in 1991, and they lived in Dearborn for several years before moving to Chicago. He had two sons Graehme (born in May of 1996) and Thomas (born in December of 2001). He died from a malignant melanoma that first appeared in 2000 and then came back.
Since his boys are very young, and since Thomas especially will have very few memories of him, his wife Kathy is trying to collect stories and memories of him that she can share with the boys when they get older and want to know what their dad was like. If you have a favorite memory of him that youd be willing to share, you can send it to her at:
Kathy Blair
1729 Indian Trail
Naperville, Il.
60565
Richard D. Blair
July 29, 1966 to December 29, 2003
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Michele Maltese
I remember Richard as a smiling, easy going, quiet and steady person who made a difference in this world.James "Sam" Vivian
I grew up with Rick. Everyone called him Rich but I always knew him as Rick. He lived across the street from me and was the first kid I met when we moved into the neighborhood in 1971. We walked to Kindergarten together the first day and spent the next 13 years between Lindbergh, Adams JH, and DHS as friends. We were in the same Scout troop together, BSA 1147, though after DHS we saw each other only a couple times, even after he'd bought the house he grew up in and lived in Dearborn. We lost touch by around 1990.In 2002, I was wandering through the bookstore at Montana State University and looking for a title in the computer section and saw the name "Blair" on the spine of a Wrox book. Sure enough, it was Rick, so I tracked him down from the information on the dust jacket and we spent time catching up by Email and phone. He and Kathy, Graehme, and Thomas (and Grover, their Golden Retriever) had just moved to Chicago, and Rick was spending a lot of time 'commuting' to Houston doing Visual Basic consulting, while I way flying between Bozeman and the East and West Coast. We ended up playing a vicious game of cell-phone tag, glanced off each other passing through O'Hare on more than one occasion, and developed the habit of smoking and drinking on the phone while hashing out politics, Unix vs. Microsoft, the Use-Care-and-Feeding of Golden Retrievers, bar notes, and other Extremely Important Subjects.
By late 2003, I hadn't heard much from Rick for a few months, which was uncharacteristic. We'd both been busy but that was normal. Jim Bussa called me from Minneapolis and gave me the news and it felt like taking a bullet. In the hierarchy of things that are Good, Bad, and Indifferent, Rick's death was definitively Bad.
Rick was one of the Good Guys.
Sandra Levantrosser (Burnham)
I remember Rick Blair cracking jokes alot. He was witty and smart. I picture him sitting in the desk at school, in class, making a joke and then slightly laughing at it and then either sitting there looking around with just his eyes or quickly getting up after he cracked his joke and disappearing. I'm sorry for your loss. Very sad and so young. He was a very nice guy.