Richard Victor Oulahan was born on June 12, 1945, in Belfast,  to Peggy Wilson from Green Island, Northern Ireland, and Courts McCall Oulahan, from Washington D.C. 

He graduated from St. Alban’s School in Washington D.C. in 1963 and Haverford College in 1967. He was an avid scholar and educator, committed to social justice, becoming a Fulbright Scholar in Ecuador and subsequently a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras, Central America. 

He met his wife Diana while volunteering in Honduras, and then continued his fight for agrarian reform and improvements in labor conditions in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He had a truly global career having lived and worked in Bangladesh, Honduras, Ecuador, Bolivia, Panama, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, and spending the latter part of his working years in Europe and the United States. 

He survived an assassination attempt in El Salvador for the work he had done with the agrarian reform movement, and the deaths of three of his closest work colleagues who were killed in his place, always kept him driven to continue fighting for democracy and social justice around the world. 

Those that met him in later life, will remember his involvement with the Silva Method and the Democratic Party, and his love of writing about democracy, authoritarianism and totalitarianism. He had a zest for life, and an incredible energy for living it to the full. In the summer of 2024 he was aiming to join an interdisciplinary summer course on “Democracy and Inequality: The Challenge of a Society of Equals” at Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, Hungary as well as a tour of the battlefields in Portugal. 

He chose Windsor, Connecticut as his last home close to Carmen and Lilian and his son-in-law Andrew Hutchinson who he had a special place for in his heart. He was grateful to have found such a great and welcoming community. He especially found strength at Grace Episcopal Church, on the Green, under the direction of Father Chip Elliott who he held in high esteem. 

He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Diana Castillo -Oulahan, and his children and nieces and nephews Carmen, Richard, Lilian, Emilio, Emily, Lee, and Ruth, and his grandchildren, Isabella, Elena, Porter, Eva, Kennedy, Elisa, Gabri, Santiago, Joaquin, Chloe and Max. He leaves behind his brother Chris, and his cousins from Northern Ireland, Gill, Judith, Christine, Susan, and David. 

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