Richard Marius is dead, and I didn't even know he was sick. I got to know Richard in 1988 when I attended a writer's workshop at the University of Tennessee. He was a professor at Harvard, but directed the workshop at UT which is near his boyhood home. When he saw that one of the workshop participants was from Loudon County, he looked me up. It turned out that my home is about 3 miles from his old home place and that he and I
were born in the same month back in 1933. That was enough of a bond for Richard, and I talked with him daily during the workshop.

He was a very caring person. He had a brother who was Downs Syndrome and he often wrote about him and talked about him with great affection. The brother passed away a few years ago at the age of 60.

Richard loved to ride a bike and often toured great distances on two wheels.

He was a great author, he loved people, he grew up near Dixie Lee Junction, he rode a bicycle, he taught creative writing and he was born in August 1933. You gotta like a guy like that.
Howard