New Canaan’s legislative body held a moment of silence Wednesday night for a longtime community volunteer who died this week.
Keith Richey
The Town Council remembered Keith Richey, who spent more than two decades on the Parking Commission, most of them as its chair, volunteered with the New Canaan Exchange Club, a service organization, and helped organize the annual “Mich-Rich Softball Game,” providing colorful roundups of the summer contest.
Councilman Eric Thunem offered condolences to Marina Richey and the entire family at the start of the elected body’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.
At the 2023 Mich-Rich game. L-R: standing: Bill Acker, John Doherty, Stephen von Jena, John Fulkerson, Brian Skinner, Keith Richey, Brad Acker, Alan Sharpe, Tim Michno, Steve McCardell, Roger Saunders, Will Fornshell, Andrew Weitzel, Chas Timberlake, Rick DeNey, Mickey Stayman, Rick Coyle. Bottom row: John Moore, Marc Toland.
“Keith Richey was a member of the New Can Exchange Club for 33 years,” Thunem said. “I think that’s about as long as the Exchange Club has been in New Canaan. He had a volunteer spirit that inspired others, and it was good to know him and to be his friend. He had a great big smile and always a helping hand. He spent 21 years on the Parking Commission in this town. That’s a long time for anybody on anything. He spent the last four, four-and-a-half years of his life on Parks and Recreation [Commission]. So his volunteering has extended beyond things like the New Canaan Dance Club and the New Canaan Men’s Club to really serving his community.”
Thunem noted that Richey ran twice for the Town Council and though he was not elected, Richey continued to serve the community.
“It was my pleasure to know him,” Thunem said. “He was a very accomplished and capable gentleman, an international tax lawyer for firms like Exxon Mobil, Citibank and Xerox. In one of his runs for Town Council, he’s quoted as saying, ‘I am most fortunate to have been blessed with a wonderful family, good health, a high energy level and a rewarding career.’ And we are the beneficiaries of his rewarding volunteer spirit and. It is with a heavy heart that we pass along this news to anyone watching and our hearts go out to his family.”
Richey said during a 2021 interview that he joined New Canaan’s Gridiron Club around 1992 and occasionally performed in the annual fundraiser, and also belonged in the past to the Poinsettia Club. He was a member and president of the Stamford Tax Association and also was the vice president in charge of the International Fiscal Association, Connecticut Region from 1999 to 2019.
In leading the Town Council in a moment of silence, Chair Mike Mauro called Richey “a really great contributor to the community” and offered “prayers and thoughts to his family and friends at this time.”
Later in the meeting, Town Treasurer Andrew Brooks said he echoed Thunem’s thoughts regarding Richey’s contributions to the town.
“His family is in my thoughts and prayers,” Brooks said.
Total shock to read this news given that I just saw Keith a few days ago.
Condolences to the Richey family on your profound loss.
Keith was a very dedicated person, sincere, intelligent, curious, funny, energetic, a liver of live and not afraid to express his (sometimes controversial) views and opinions. He was a true gentleman and friend. I wish the family my condolences and prayers. I will miss him at Exchange Club events and seeing him around town. There are not many around anymore like Keith. RIP, Keith.
Our collective condolences to Keith’s family and all of the organizations that were enriched by his volunteer spirit and dedication to this wonderful town of ours. He will be missed and remembered.
Dear Keith, we played tennis last week and, as we parted, you asked if I would be playing the next day and I said “no, but see you next week.” It never happened. When I joined the Men’s Club upon turning 70 and met you there, we bonded quickly. Even though you were one of the younger (and relatively newer) members in the club it was no surprise when you were asked to assume the 2020-2021 presidency. How you turned those weekly Zoom meetings you led as club president for a whole year through the pandemic into a not-to-be-missed hour still astonishes me. I admire you so much for all the time you spent, up to a few days ago, socializing regularly with people 10, 15, 20 years your senior and making their day – like after tennis at the Apple Cart, and the weekly lunch bunch at Cherry Street East. Including me. I thank you for proposing me for Poinsettia Club membership along the way. It was an honor and a pleasure to call you my friend these past eight years or so. And like my mother, you would only ever call me by my full first name. We miss you. Robin Fryer
Keith was my best friend in college at USC. We exchanged Christmas and birthday cards every year since the late 1970s. The Christmas cards were photos of his family so I got to watch them over many years growing up and included their pets. I am so sorry for his
wonderful family. He had such affection for his community. He visited me with his son years ago here in Indiana and was very interested in helping his son pick a college. I am sure his children have many great memories of Keith and their mother over the years.
I only knew Keith for three years, but his sense of humor, work ethic and enthusiasm for New Canaan were always on display. His passing is a deep loss to the town of which he was such a part. I miss him already, and my heart goes out to Keith’s family.
I met Keith at the Exchange Club where I recently became a member. Had a short conversation with him at the last dinner I attended just a couple of weeks ago. He had also just been appointed by the First Selectman to head a committee to develop a new vision for Kiwanis Park, and gave an impassioned speech at how special that park is. While I didn’t know him well, I know a leading light in New Canaan, in Keith, is now gone. RIP.
I first met Keith at an Exchange Club dinner at the Roger Sherman Inn and his infectious personality quickly engaged our son Charlie and I in numerous Town and local charities. His incredible leadership ability to share his dynamic personality affected adults and high school students alike bringing them together in a fun and positive way while teaching them to be good stewards of the land which we throughly enjoyed. Whether it involved Land Trust projects, clean your mile or selling Christmas trees for charities it was always a pleasure to work along side Keith.
He will be so missed by so many.
David Woodman