Richard K. Arnold
1924-May 17, 2009
Portola Valley, California

Richard K. Arnold, 85, a resident of Portola Valley, died May 17 at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, Calif., following a brief illness.

He was born in San Francisco. He served in the U.S. Navy in Okinawa, Japan, during WWII. After the war he returned to Stanford University, and was a prominent member of Wallace Stegner's creative writing center. His writing skills were praised throughout his career and many of his short stories written at Stanford earned publication and awards.

In 1946 he married Stanford classmate Mary Louise Blair. The couple spent three years in Gloucester, Mass., where they helped his father run a resort hotel, before returning to Palo Alto to raise their son.

He then embarked on a long career in public relations. In 1960 he interrupted his career briefly to join his brother, Maxwell, in Washington, D.C., to work on John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign. Upon returning to San Francisco, he co-founded the firm Arnold & Palmer & Noble. His clients included PG&E, Embarcadero Center and Golden Gate Transit. He left the firm in 1989 to become an independent consultant. In 1975 he published an anthology, "Adams to Jefferson & Jefferson to Adams: A Dialogue from Their Correspondence, 1812-26," reflecting his passions for writing and history.

He greatly enjoyed literature, jazz, musical comedy and major league baseball. He was a member of the Bohemian Club, and a playwright and lyricist for six musicals, including several performed for the Bohemian Grove.

He is survived by his son, William Arnold of Menlo Park, Calif., and his brother, Maxwell Arnold of Portola Valley, Calif.

Tags: veteran, arts/media