He was educated at University of Trinity College in Toronto, Ontario and at England"s Oxford University where he toured Europe as a member of the university"s ice hockey team which included a future Prime Minister of Canada, Lester Pearson, and a future Governor General of Canada, Roland Michener.
In 1925, Richard went to work for the Hudson"s Bay Company. Between 1926 and 1937 he worked as a junior accountant before winding up as district manager for its western Arctic operations. In 1984, his diaries of the years he spent in the north were edited and compiled by journalist and author Heather Robertson and published as A Gentleman Adventurer: The Arctic Diaries of Royal Horse Guards
In 1931, Richard married Mary Northwood.
The couple had three children. In 1945 went to work for Advocate Printers in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Created as a publishing operation to reprint low-cost paperback novels, Harlequin initially focused on mystery fiction, westerns and cookbooks. In the early 1950s, Richard obtained a twenty-five percent ownership in the struggling Harlequin operation and soon would acquire seventy-five percent of what was a business teetering on the edge of collapse.
A twenty-five percent share of the company was given to key staff member, Ruth Palmour.
Under the direction of Richard the company"s fortunes started to change. In 1953 Harlequin began to publish medical romances. When the company"s chief editor died the following year, "s wife took over his responsibilities.
Mary enjoyed reading the romance novels of British publisher Mills & Boon and believed there was a market for their books in Canada and the United States.
Her idea led to the most important decision in the company"s history with the 1957 deal that saw Harlequin become the exclusive North American distributor for Mill & Boon romance novels. Aside from his successful publishing business, Richard was active in his Winnipeg community.
He served as President of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, was appointed the first chairman of the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg, and named the first person to serve as Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg. On a national level, he joined the board of Ducks Unlimited Canada and would serve as its President, Chairman of the Board of Directors and as Chairman of the Executive Committee.
Richard died in 1968 as a result of a heart attack moments after docking his floatplane at a hunting lodge on Long Island Bay in the southern section of Lake Winnipegosis.
