Jack and Karen Irion
Karen and I had the privilege of studying in Dick’s very first class at Texas A&M some 30 years ago. The students adored him then, as I’m sure they did for decades to come. He was one of the wisest, most unassuming, kindest men we’ve ever met. On the rare occasions when I would run into Dick years later, he never failed to ask after Karen by name, even though she had later pursued a career in engineering and he hadn’t seen her since she was an undergraduate. He genuinely cared about the well-being of his students. We are both fortunate for having known him.