Richard Pearl

was born in Berkeley, California in 1926 to Hallet and William Pearl, the fifth of six children. As a boy, he loved spending time in the mountains and on the water. He sailed on the San Francisco Bay with the Sea Scouts, and spent most summers camping with his mother and brothers at Butte Meadows near Mount Lassen with little more than a canvas tent and a fishing pole.Dick graduated from U.C. Berkeley and served in both the United States Navy and Army. In 1955, he married his wife, Carolyn, and together they had two daughters, Amy and Sarah. He raised his girls with a great love for the outdoors and inspired them to work hard to achieve their dreams. Dick spent his career working as a Subcontract Manager for Lockheed Missiles and Space, and shortly after retirement, he and Carolyn moved to Bainbridge Island joining their daughter, Sarah, and her family. As a testament to his adventurous spirit, he volunteered as a backcountry ranger in the Olympic National Park in his seventies, and was always ready to participate with his family in hiking, camping, light-plane flying, sailing and traveling. Two of his favorite places in his later years were Ross Lake in the North Cascades where he went every summer with Sarah and her family, and Oxford, England and Scotland, where he went every spring with Amy.Dick was an environmentalist, a progressive and a history buff, but most of all, he was a man who loved his family and the beautiful Bainbridge Island home and garden he and Carolyn created. He delighted in the accomplishments of his children and grandchildren, and attended countless performances, award ceremonies, recitals and graduations, and most recently the wedding of his oldest granddaughter, just prior to his death.Dick was tenderly cared for in the last months of his life by his wife and his two daughters, along with their husbands and children; he died peacefully at home on July 28th surrounded by his family. Dick was preceded in death by his parents, his five siblings, and one grandchild, Ian Pearl-Sacks. He is survived by his wife of fifty-three years, Carolyn, daughters Amy Pearl (Kurt Alameda) of Portland, Oregon, and Sarah Pearl (Barry Sacks) of Bainbridge Island, grandchildren Megan and Taylor Alameda, Elliott and Carly Pearl-Sacks and numerous nieces and nephews. Those who loved him are very saddened by the loss of this energetic, thoughtful, uncompromising, and caring man who was such a big presence in their lives. Arrangements by Cook Family Funeral Home on Bainbridge Island.