From Rich's friend Tim about his University of New Haven days:

When we worked on the college newspaper, Rich annointed everyone with nicknames. He was Ickey Dickey. I was Freak. Kevin Meehan wore sunglasses even inside, so he became Eyes. Tony Crocamo was Croc. Bob Zeig, Zinger, or The Mighty Zinger, etc.

After our freshman year, The News office was on the ground floor in the student center. One wall was a window looking out into the corridor as everybody was walking by. In front of the window, in our office, was a drafting table where Rich would design the paper each week. While standing there, looking at other students going by, he'd make some sarcastic or funny remark about someone, etc. That was his style.

One semester we rented a room from a little old lady in West Haven. His house was way down Campbell Avenue, almost near Long Island sound. I had already gone to the campus that day for some reason. I was able to borrow a car from a friend to go get Rich, a Dodge Dart. After I picked him up, we got to talking about a friend of ours who lived in Torrington, John Krupa. John and Rich had become friends while John was at UNH; I think he was an engineering major, but he dropped out and went back to Torrington. Anyway, we decided to 'borrow' the car for the day and drive to Torrington, which is probably a good 2 hours away. When we got to Torrington we stopped at a bakery because Rich wanted to get a pie or a cake and smash it in John's face for a joke, so we bought some kind of cream pie. When we got to John's house, I went and knocked on the door; Rich waited by the car, standing by the driver's door, holding the pie behind his back with one hand. John came out and walked down the sidewalk, but he sort of new something was up, but Rich still managed to smash the pie half-over his face.

More from  "Richy's UConn Friends and Coworkers"

Richy was heavily involved in the UConn Professional Employees Association (UCPEA), the University's worker union. It was his habit to tap his feet through meetings. At the UCPEA board meetings, when they were held on the second floor, everyone on the first floor knew where he was sitting.

From "Richy's UConn Friends and Coworkers"

We’d golf every Friday during the summer months. That’s when things at UConn Communications slowed down. Our crew typically consisted of me (Brian), Richy, Ken, and sometimes Kevin or Cara. We’d play nine and grab a beer at the clubhouse of Skungamaug - or “The Skunk” as Richy liked to call it.

There was one summer where I started to have a bunch of trouble with my brand new golf bag. For whatever reason, the clubs would come out just fine. But when I went to put them back in the bag, I was met with a ton of resistance. The clubs wouldn’t go all the way down. It didn’t make sense. The bag was bigger than my previous bag. Not to mention, I removed a few of my older clubs which should have given me even more room. It didn’t matter. I couldn’t get the clubs all the way in.

One day after our Friday round, in a fit of rage, I emptied the clubs from my bag. I then proceeded to turn the bag upside down to see if there was anything inside that would prevent my clubs from reaching the bottom. At that point, approximately 15-20 empty “Yukon Jack” nips fell crashing to the floor of my garage.

It turns out that Richy had been slipping the empties into my new bag whenever I went to tee off.

I still remember how hard he laughed and the stream of tears rolling down his cheeks when I told him what I found in my bag.