Dr. William “Bill” Richardson of New Vernon died Thursday, March 31, at the age of 82.
A loving husband, father of two, and grandfather of two, Bill was born on December 15, 1939, to William and Bonnie (Augerot) Richardson in New York City. He grew up in New York City and Connecticut, and graduated cum laude from the Philips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts in 1958.
He graduated from Harvard University with an AB in Economics in 1962 and earned his medical degree from McGill University in Montreal in 1967. He served as an Army doctor in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969 with the rank of captain.
Upon returning home, Bill did his residency at Jewish General Hospital-McGill University from 1970-1971 and his hospital residency in psychiatry at Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic at New York Hospital from 1971 to 1974. He then spent a year in California at the VA Hospital in Brentwood, but California was not for him, and he couldn’t get back to his beloved New York fast enough. Once safely back on the East Coast, he practiced at Metropolitan Hospital in New York City and at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center and started a private practice.
On August 8, 1982, he married Deborah (Woods) Richardson. They raised two children, Amanda and Will.
The Richardsons moved from New York to Chatham Borough in 1984. Bill joined the staff of Overlook Hospital as the Vice-Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and maintained a private practice in Summit. In 1995 he founded Alpha Behavioral Care, a group practice of which he was the president. The family moved to New Vernon in 1987.
When Bill loved something, he did so fully and passionately. He loved being a psychiatrist, collecting wine, jazz, travel, food, ice cream, his children and grandchildren, and most of all his wife. He and Debby traveled to more than 30 countries, always in search of great food, great wine, and great adventures.
Bill was known for his gregariousness, his generosity, his intelligence, and his kind and compassionate spirit. He was a wonderful psychiatrist whose patients loved him.
Bill was preceded in death by his mother, Bonnie, his father, Willie, and his sister Pam Richardson.
He is survived by his wife Debby; his daughter, Amanda, son-in-law Matthew Eckman and grandchildren Henry and Clara, of New Vernon; his son, Will, and daughter-in-law Sarah Richardson, of Jersey City; four siblings, Kent Richardson of Ramona, Calif., Alice Antonelli of Ardmore, Pa., Liz McGrail of Avondale, Pa., and Tom Richardson of New Canaan, Ct., and many cousins, nieces, and nephews.
