Richard Eldridge (Former Head of School)

June 8, 1940 - October 3, 2025

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It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Richard Leete Eldridge on Friday, October 3, 2025, at the age of eighty-five.

Rich is survived by his wife of twenty-six years Rosaria (Roe) Golden, stepdaughters Ria and Nora, daughter Susan (Seward) and son David (Lisa), former spouse Lucy, five grandchildren (Ruthanne, Lucy, Ember, Bee and Jamie), sister Muriel, niece Kerry and nephew Ross, as well as a great niece and two great nephews. (It would be remiss not to mention Rich’s grand dogs Gia, Auggie, and Ling Ling, to whom he was top dog.)

In his career, Rich served as principal of Buckingham Friends School in Lahaska, Pennsylvania, Friends Seminary in Manhattan (New York City), and The Willow School in Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey. He was Assistant Dean of Faculty in the Division of Humanities and an English Professor at the Community College of Baltimore in Maryland. He served on numerous Boards, including for Friends Academy in Locust Valley, Long Island (where he also served as interim head for one year), Oakwood Friends School in Poughkeepsie, New York, Pennswood Village in Newtown, PA and Friends Journal in Philadelphia, PA.

After retiring from The Willow School at the age of sixty-five, Rich went on to become an adjunct professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey where he taught remedial writing and grammar to incoming freshmen. He also served as a consultant to The Hudson School in Hoboken, New Jersey and Westbury Friends School in Long Island, New York, as they prepared for new leadership.

After suffering a stroke in January 2009, Rich continued to make an impact on the lives of those around him. He served as a volunteer for the Westchester Martin Luther King, Jr. Institute for Nonviolence, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Freedom Library in White Plains, New York, where he curated new books on social justice, equity and inclusion for the library’s collection.

Rich was a scholarly man, having earned a B.A., English from Oberlin College, an M.Ed., English from Cornell University, and a Ph.D., American Literature at the University of Maryland. The book he co-authored with Cynthia Earl Kerman, The Lives of Jean Toomer: A Hunger for Wholeness (1987) was considered for a Pulitzer Prize in Biography; it was his biggest published work, which also included numerous articles, stories and poems. However, Rich always said that he was not the smartest person in the room, whether he was with faculty, staff, students or anyone else. He believed that everyone is a teacher and can be a lifelong learner, and that formal education, which is not available to everyone, does not determine an individual’s value.  

To say that Rich will be dearly missed is an understatement because to have known Rich was to always want to be around him.

Please consider making a small (or large) donation to one of the following organizations in honor of Rich:

• The Dementia Society of America

• The Alzheimer’s Association

• The Richard Eldridge Fund for Lifelong Learning at Friends Seminary, New York City

• The Westchester MLK Jr. Institute for Nonviolence in White Plains, New York