Deceased September 23, 2021
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In Memory
Richmond “Rob” Greene roomed with us in Alpha Delt, three seniors who were about as straight as they came. Rob was quiet, thoughtful and incredibly well organized in juggling his course load and many activities: magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, soccer, lacrosse co-captain, Christian Association, Fraternity Business Management, Outing Club president and Sphinx.
His lineage included pillars of New England intellectual and cultural aristocracy. The family seat, The Manse in Jaffrey, N.H., built in 1787, is still family-owned. In the tradition of his forebears, Rob graduated from Kingswood Oxford School, where his father taught, and, at age 18, became a summer exchange student at Oxford University in England, where he was taken by the beauty of the majestic cathedrals, an experience that would shape his life.
After Amherst, Rob pursued his increasing interest in religion and serving people, graduating from Union Theological Seminary in 1955. He was ordained as a First Congregational minister with 15 years of service in three New England churches, including in Amherst. He joined the civil rights march from Selma, Ala., in 1965, risking life at pistol point, and was jailed. Rob also earned a degree in pastoral counseling and graduated from the C.G. Jung Institute, later serving as its president.
Rob’s many interests embraced a true liberal arts tradition: fly-fishing, horseback riding, collecting antique pistols, writing poetry, becoming a skilled watercolor artist.
Rob married Barbara Fish in 1953, with four children and four grandchildren surviving after his death on Sept. 23, 2021. In 1976 he married the sculptor Katherine Twyeffort, who is arranging publication of a book of Rob’s paintings and poetry.
Jack Vernon ’52 and Nick Evans ’52