Richard B. Greenberg (1944 - 2024)

 

Our classmate Richard Greenberg died suddenly Thursday, January 4, 2024 of a massive cerebral hemorrhage. Ned Groth wrote on January 6, "I learned of it from a post his wife, Janet Bobit, made on Facebook. She was responding to friends who had wished her happy birthday; Richard kind of ruined that, dying on the day. She said it was peaceful, he never regained consciousness." There is no information at this time regarding a memorial service; any information will be added here as it becomes available.

 

Richard came to Princeton from Miami Beach and was one of a large '66 contingent from The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, CT. He majored in Politics and was a member of Dial Lodge. After Princeton, he attended Columbia University where he received an M.B.A. degree. Richard was an investor and financial communications consultant and was president of RGB Associates. He married Janet J. Bobit, a lawyer, in 1990. Janet and Richard were long-time residents of the Back Bay in Boston. They had no children.

 

Janet sent this message about Richard on January 25, 2024:

"Richard earned an MBA from Columbia University in 1968 and then joined TWA. He worked in investor relations for several years before finding his joy as a counselor for Consumer Credit Counseling Services in Boston. Richard also volunteered with the Boston Bar Association, preparing tax returns for low-income filers and with Ethos, driving elderly individuals to appointments. Richard and I met on a blind date in 1976 and he followed me to Massachusetts in 1981. Even though he was a Princeton graduate, Richard was an enthusiastic supporter of the Michigan State Spartans, going to the Rose Bowl and the Pinstripe Bowl. We were residents of Boston’s Back Bay since 1985. We enjoyed traveling, be it a day trip to Kennebunkport for lobster rolls or to explore India, Africa, or Dubai. His brother Allan Greenberg was a Princeton graduate, Class of 1958, and his nephew David Greenberg was a member of the Class of 1990. He remained lifelong friends with his Princeton roommate Charles (Terry) Fritz. If anyone wishes to make a donation in his memory, please consider GoCampaign (GoCampaign.org/donate). There was no funeral per his wishes."

 

Nassau Herald

 

Tributes and Memories

 

Ned Groth:

Richard and I were clubmates at Dial, but I barely knew him as an undergraduate. When Sharon and I moved to Boston in 2015, I looked in the class directory to see if I had any friends nearby, and was surprised to find that Richard and Janet lived only a block away from our apartment on Beacon Street. (They moved a few blocks farther away in 2021.) I called him up and said "Let's have coffee or something." We did, and ended up meeting at the Starbucks on Newbury Street regularly for the next 5 years. 
 
Richard was a kind, gentle and thoughtful person, rather shy, but fun once you drew him out. He was hard of hearing (especially in crowded places) and shunned our class lunches because he hated not being able to follow or take part in the group discussions around the table. He was retired from a career in financial management (I think he was an accountant, Janet can supply details) and used to enjoy early morning power walks along the Charles. On Sundays Richard and Janet were often found enjoying brunch in the sidewalk cafés on Boylston Street. 
 
Janet and Richard knew each other for 47 years and were married in 1990; I think he may have been briefly married before that. I don't think they have children, but I'm not sure. I never met any family.
 

I'm sad that so few of us got to know him.

 

 

Preston Granbery ('69. Entered with '66):

I was shocked and deeply saddened to hear of Richard Greenberg’s passing.  Although he was not the closest of the friends I have left, he was the longest running one, some 65 years.
 
Richard (aka Greenie or occasionally Dick) and Terry Fritz were my roommates freshman and the first half of sophomore year (at which point I left Princeton, involuntarily, and joined the Navy).  Greenie was an outstanding roommate, willing to go along with almost any crazy idea Terry or I might come up with and coming up with a number of crazy ideas himself, not all of which are fit for print.  I will say that he was one of the founding members of the Shipley dating service.  The service arranged for carloads of students from the Shipley School of the Philadelphia' Main Line to be brought to Princeton for party weekends.  Shipley was a school for proper young ladies, aspiring debutants, but we found, to our delight, that when brought to Princeton, most of them were not quite so proper.  While an unqualified success, the service died after our freshman year when all of the Shipley girls we had been dating graduated and went off to colleges around the country.
 
After leaving Princeton, my visits with Greenie became much more sporadic.  Indeed, when he and Janet visited us at our Rhode Island house the summer before last, we realized it had been nearly ten years since our last get together.  We promised that we would not allow more than a year or two slip by before seeing each other again.  And now he is gone.  I cannot imagine the pain that Janet is going through right now.  She has my deepest sympathy.
 
Sophomore year, the three of us got a suite in Dod Hall, and three others who had lived down the hall from us freshman year, Al Dahl, Curtis Clay and a third fellow whose name I cannot remember now, got the suite next door.  Other than that and some of the other Hotchkiss students, I can’t really say who else might have been close to Greenie.

 

Tim Smith (Received January 12):

Dick and I were friends our last three years at Princeton as club mates at Dial.  I always called him Dick back in the day as did most of our club mates.  

 

I remember him from many club events as one of the nicest, most congenial and non-judgmental individuals that I had ever met.  He loved to party and was always accompanied by a lovely date who was as gracious as he was.  

 
I recall catching up with him at our early reunions and sharing stories with him.  He was always as interested in hearing my stories as he was in sharing his with me!
 
I don’t remember seeing him at later reunions and always thought to myself that sometime I would catch up to him and once again share stories.  It never happened, and I deeply regret not having stayed in touch with him outside of reunions. 
 
He was one of Princeton’s finest, and all classmates who knew him will miss him.  
 

My deepest condolences to his wife Janet for the loss of a special classmate and friend.

 

 

May he rest in peace!

 
Additional Photos

 

Dick's wife, Janet Bobit, sent these additional photos February 6.

 

A Night Out with Janet