Richard Olcese -- artist, advocate for the disabled

Richard Olcese, an artist, advocate for the disabled and a consultant who helped revolutionize wheelchair design, died July 17, 2003, at his home in Ross. He was 61.

Mr. Olcese's digitally enhanced color images of vintage, muscle and race cars and restored antique photos appeared in galleries and shops throughout Marin County. He was just as well known among his large circle of friends for the way he threw himself into his many creative endeavors -- from rethinking wheelchair cushions to gardening and photography.

"He could plan, buy and prepare a meal for 50 at a moment's notice," said his longtime partner Sharon MacCabe. "You would not even know the man was a quadriplegic. His wheelchair went 11 miles an hour, and he was a hell-raiser."

Mr. Olcese, who was born in San Mateo, attended the College of Marin and had lived in Ross for 36 years.
He started using a wheelchair at age 25 due to complications from surgery on a rare spinal tumor that left him with some use and feeling in his arms but otherwise paralyzed from the chest down, said MacCabe.

His creativity took him into many realms. Dissatisfied with the seat and maneuverability of his wheelchair, Mr. Olcese had the idea to take a race car seat and have it installed across his chair.

"By example, he helped revolutionize wheelchairs," said Mary Lou Breslin, senior policy adviser for Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, an advocacy group in Berkeley. "His experience came from his background. He really liked sports cars and motorcycles, and he translated that experience. His disability informed his interests but, as a personal matter, it was so not a big deal."

When Breslin first met Mr. Olcese 25 years ago, she was struggling with her own seating problems, she said. He introduced her to people who could customize her chair, getting rid of the traditional and uncomfortable sling- style seat.

"He was an out-of-the-box kind of guy and was absolutely fearless," she said. "He would try things."
Mr. Olcese also worked as a board member for Whirlwind Wheelchair International, an organization based at San Francisco State University that works with the disabled in developing countries to help facilitate the manufacture of wheelchairs there.

"What I liked was that he wanted to ride the best so he could get around and have maximum mobility," said Peter Pfaelzer, a professor of engineering at San Francisco State and a co-founder of Whirlwind Wheelchair. "He was always working with inventor designers, trying to improve his chair and his seating systems."

Mr. Olcese himself rode a "revolutionary power chair" that he helped to develop, said Pfaelzer. He consulted not only on seating design but also on the ability of commercial chairs to travel over rough terrain, becoming a kind of wheelchair test pilot.

He also photographed public events in the Bay Area's disability community, produced educational videos on disability discrimination and was a showcased artist in Street Rodder Magazine. In addition, he founded one of the first accessible boating programs for the disabled and worked on an advisory board for accessible seating at Pac Bell Park.

Aside from MacCabe and her daughter Ashley, Mr. Olcese is survived by a sister, Robin Booth of Albany, Ore.; a niece; and a nephew.

Katherine Seligman, Chronicle Staff Writer