Obituary: Richard Morgan

Family and friends of well-known northern Nevada attorney/lobbyist Richard L. Morgan, who died Dec. 11 at the age of 71, will celebrate his life at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12 at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Carson City.

Father Jeffrey Paul will officiate over the service. The church is at the corner of Division and Telegraph streets.

Morgan, a longtime Carson City resident, was born in Grantsville, W.Va., and graduated from the University of West Virginia. He played professional baseball in the Boston Red Sox organization before earning a law degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

He first came to Carson City in 1970 as executive director of the Nevada State Education Association, where he successfully promoted teachers' rights and additional fringe benefits for public employees.

Morgan held a similar position in Oklahoma from 1975 to 1979, when he returned to Nevada as a legislative lobbyist for several industry associations. In 1958, he became chief administrator for the Nevada Supreme Court. Although he retired in 1991, he served as a lobbyist for the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association during the 1993, 1995, 1997 and 1999 legislative sessions.

"He was kind of like working with your favorite professor," said Victoria Riley of the Trial Lawyers Association shortly before he died. "All the wisdom, all the knowledge and then the sense of humor."

"He made sure things happened," said Assemblyman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, a friend of nearly 30 years. "I have a lot of very fond memories of the things he did for teachers and kids in this state."

Morgan's widow, the former Barbara Capet of Bridgeport, W.Va., to whom he was married for nearly 50 years, said she hopes her husband's many friends will share their favorite stories with those attending Saturday's celebration of life service.

Other survivors include daughter Kim Morgan of Carson City, chief deputy legislative counsel, and son Dr. Randy Morgan, a physician in Edmond, Okla.