I’m so sorry for your loss. Loosing a loved one in death is extremely hard to deal with. But in the Bible, God promises to bring our dead loved one’s back to life. (John 5: 28,29) During this difficult time, a strong hope in God’s promises will help you to endure. And through endurance, you will experience that grand future in which Jehovah will “give you the requests of your heart.” He will satisfy “the desire of every living thing.” (Psalm 37:4) Things will get better soon.”

It's hard for me to express the sadness and shock I experienced when learning about Rick’s untimely passing. We were in contact just prior to his death because he had recommended me for a job and I had put him down as a reference. The person in charge of hiring sent me an email asking me to send a new reference because of the passing of Dr. Sweitzer. I called Craig Stockwell needing to talk with someone who would understand, and Craig stayed up late into the night gathering all of the email contacts he had to spread the word. Thank you, Craig. During our recent communications, Rick asked me for photos of riparian areas in the Owens Valley, and I laughed explaining that they weren’t digital. I went out and took pictures for his report, and he sent me a photo from a visit I took to the Granite Basin with him to tag porcupines. He labeled it BeckyPorky.jpg. I was glad there was a porcupine in my hands in the photo when I looked at it. When we next spoke, we laughed about what it was like to be young (in the photo I had 80s hair). Rick lived here with me in Bishop in 2019 while we worked on data looking at mountain lion/fischer interactions. When he arrived, he had an elderly husky named Sierra who passed soon after he moved in. Soon after he called me from his dad’s house saying he wanted to bring a young dog back. I then experienced what I like to think of as the Border Collie Vortex. Fortunately, my aged dog was the same breed, and my cats already knew how to put the youngster in his place. There are still a few reminders around my house of Cody, but now they bring a smile. One of the things I keep thinking about these last few weeks was Rick’s ridiculous giggle that was way too high-pitched for his persona. The first and most fun professional meeting I ever attended was with Rick and Doug Smith. I got an education about a lot more than wildlife biology but by the time we were flying back my stomach and cheeks hurt so bad from days of laughing that I begged Rick and Doug to stop talking. Then Rick would giggle. I almost didn’t survive. When Rick came to Bishop, he was still in many ways the same man I had met thirty years before with an uncompromising work ethic, love of wildlife biology, and the outdoors. We went fishing, and he went swimming in the artesian springs with Cody every day. In Wyoming, he expressed that he was in a good place. I’ll miss him and our profession will as well.  

What a shock, what a loss.  My deepest condolences to Rick's family.  I met Rick in 1993 when he was a grad student at UNR, and I was so impressed that I lured him to UC Davis as a postdoc a year later.  For many years we were collaborators on a series of studies on wild pigs, oak woodland conservation, and Catalina Island bison.  I have never met someone who was more passionate about field biology than Rick.  We drifted apart in recent years as his career took him a new direction, but I have thought of him often nonetheless - and I always will. 

I also met Rick in graduate school. Lots of memories of classes, research, and the life of a grad student. We shared a house for a time. I'll never forget hiking in the Granites, Dondur and Blitzen (his silly dogs), training our houseplants to live in a desert (i.e. never remembering to water them), waking up to his coffee grinder at 5am each day...   Ah, great times. You're missed, Rick. 

Rick and I were very close friends during our graduate training at the University of Nevada, Reno. I went to his Granite Mountains study area several times and we forged a very strong friendship. So strong that together we went on five arctic canoe trips.  I have posted a not great quality photo of one on the Mountain River in the Northwest Territories. We were canoeing a canyon and tried to avoid the worst whitewater - a ledge that is easily seen in the photo - and we barely missed it avoiding a capsize. Rick, as usual, shook it off as no big deal and that's how it goes when you canoe wild rivers in the far north. I loved that. We had four other trips and another on the South MacMillian River in the Yukon Territory we practiced for months to be ready for the whitewater and when we did it together we were ready and super dialed in accomplishing many difficult moves on a challenging remote river. I'll never forget those times. Nor will I forget the time we spent together learning about how science was done and going to conferences and sharing life stories. Drinking beer, laughing. This is just tragic, and should not be. Having a little trouble getting over this. Far, far too young.     

Doug Smith - Dudes and Wilderness Forever.

In addition to working together at Grand Canyon, I shared many adventures with Rick, from backpacking in the Granite Mountains,  unpredictable roadtrips as well as a few friendly bets over UND vs. NDSU Football games. The last time I saw Rick was in 2014 while I was on sabbatical in Reno. Rick invited my family to share one of his famous dinners at his cabin on the Mount Rose Highway. I already miss Rick's quirky sense of humor, his enthusiasm, his passion for wildlife research and his loyalty as on of my oldest friends. Rest in Peace, my friend. I share my condolences with Rick's family and his friends. - Craig Stockwell

Rick as he worked as a field assistant on a bighorn sheep study.