Richard Harvey Childress, 84, died peacefully at his home in Haile Plantation, Gainesville, Florida Monday, October 24, 2016. He was born January 29, 1932 in Lawrenceville, Illinois, the son of Marjorie Orene Childress (Harbaugh) and Robert Kenneth Childress.

 He attended Olney High School, Olney, Illinois, graduating in 1949. He was a 1954 graduate of the United States Naval Academy and served his country in the United States Marine Corps. He married Mary Lou Gerhart on June 1, 1958. In 1960, he graduated from the George Washington University School of Law.

He had a long and successful career as a corporate patent attorney working at US Gypsum Corp in Chicago, Monsanto in St. Louis, P.R. Mallory & Co Indianapolis, Indiana, and United Technologies in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1976, he became Director of Patents and Trademarks at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio retiring in 1991. He was a member of the US Supreme Court, Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, and numerous other bars. He was registered to practice at the US and Canadian Patent Offices and served as an international patent arbitrator.

He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Gainesville and Haile Plantation Golf and Country Club.

He was preceded in death by his father, Robert Kenneth Childress, his brother, Robert Kenneth Childress, Jr., his infant daughter, and his mother, Marjorie O. King and her husband, Clyde H. King.

He is survived by his loving wife, Mary Lou Childress, his three children, Marjorie Alene Delatour Crawford and her husband, Dr. John Crawford, of Ft Worth, Texas, Lindsay Childress-Beatty and her husband, Paul C. Beatty of Kensington, Maryland, and Richard Kenneth Childress and his wife Raimonda, of Ft. Myers, Florida, along with grandchildren, Walker and William Delatour, Preston and Campbell Beatty, Matthew, Isabella and Connor Childress and Doroteja and Teodoras Bubulis. He is also survived by his nephew and wife, James and Patricia Griffiths.

A service in his honor held at the chapel at Williams-Thomas Funeral Hme Downtown, Gainesville. He will be laid to rest at the Lawrenceville City Cemetery, Lawrenceville, Illinois with graveside rites.

Published in Gainesville Sun (FL) – October 28-29, 2016