Richard Mylius Sherman

Richard Mylius Sherman, age 78, who grew up in Norwood, OH, most recently resided in West Chester, OH, and formerly lived in Wayne, PA, died of congestive heart failure on February 15, 2018 at Hospice of Cincinnati, Blue Ash. He was born May 9, 1939 in Akron, OH to Jack William and Ruth Louise (nee Mylius) Sherman.

A 1957 graduate of Norwood High School, Richard was a member of the National Honor Society, a semi-finalist for National Merit Scholar and, as a senior, was editor of the Silhouette yearbook. He lettered in track and swimming and attained the Boy Scouts of America rank of Eagle Scout. Richard attended the University of Cincinnati, McMicken College of Arts and Sciences, where he earned his BA in Early European History and French Literature and graduated with high honors in 1961. He then moved to Philadelphia to attend graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his MA in History in 1962 and his PhD in Medieval Studies in 1969. He met his first wife, Carolyn Elisabeth Jeffery, while standing in line for course registration at Penn in the fall of 1961. They shared a love of European history throughout their marriage until her death in 2003.

Richard’s varied career ranged from academia, to university administration, to human resources. During his college summers, he was employed at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati and Chicago, and as he pursued his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania, he was employed at Smith Kline & French Laboratories. Upon earning his doctorate, he remained at the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught an undergraduate course on Roman Britain and Medieval England. His love affair with York, England began when he was appointed as the University’s on-site professor for the summer archaeological study program there, in conjunction with the York Archaeological Trust, and led several student digs. For 45 years, Richard maintained friendships with those he met through his work in York and was an avid supporter of its institutions and historical organizations, including the Jorvik Viking Centre, which displays many of the artifacts from his students’ excavations. In December 2016, the Lord Mayor of York awarded Richard the prestigious White Rose of York for his service to the city. Richard received this award in person and made a final trip to his beloved York in April, 2017.

While teaching and working in administration at the University of Pennsylvania, Richard recognized that a career in academia, at that time, held little promise for him. He took advantage of the opportunity as a University employee to pursue his MBA (Human Resources Concentration) at Wharton, and became one of the first students to earn this degree on a part-time basis. Following his graduation in 1979, Richard began a second career in human resources and took a position with Laventhol & Horwath, a consulting firm in Philadelphia. Later he worked at United Brands, which he dubbed “the banana works,” as it owned Chiquita bananas, and commuted daily to NYC from Philadelphia for 18 months. When an opportunity arose for him to work closer to home, Richard took a position with Drake Beam Morin in Philadelphia. There he handled the outplacement program for Scott Paper Company following a major downsizing. A highlight of Richard’s outplacement work was a project in which he helped to provide transition counseling to mid-level and clerical White House staff who lost their positions following President Carter's defeat in November 1980. He also volunteered his outplacement expertise for a time at Wayne Presbyterian Church, which offered career counseling services as one of its local ministries. During his years in Wayne, Richard became active in the local chapter of the Rotary Club, at the invitation of a dear friend who was a member of Rotary in England.

Despite his transition to the business world, Richard was always an academic at heart. He pursued his interests in European history, early colonial American history, and the American Civil War by reading widely and traveling extensively.  He loved and had an extensive knowledge of classical music, particularly the works of Beethoven, and never ceased to marvel at the composer’s ability to create masterpieces he could not hear. Richard’s mind was a storehouse of historical events, dates, battles, and other minutiae, and he enjoyed sharing his vast and often abstruse knowledge, as well as his strong opinions. He continued his academic research and writing and remained hopeful until the end of his life that his study of Willem van Ypres, an 11th century Flemish nobleman, might be published. Because his academic pursuits hinged on what he called “a working knowledge” of French, Dutch, German and Latin, Richard rotated his daily study of these languages, recording any unfamiliar vocabulary he encountered in his reading to look up and memorize; this practice continued until six months before his death.

In addition to his academic study of history, Richard was fascinated with the study of his own family history, and he devoted significant time and effort to genealogical research, particularly his mother’s German ancestors. This work led to longstanding relationships with distant cousins in Germany, Switzerland, and the United States. Similarly, Richard’s study of Dutch was enhanced through his enduring friendship with Adrie van der Linden, whom he met in 1963 while traveling aboard a student ship for a year of study in France. The two men maintained a regular correspondence in both Dutch and English, with occasional visits to one another and their families, until Adrie died in 2017.

Following his first wife’s death, Richard sold the house in Wayne, PA to his daughter and her husband and returned to suburban Cincinnati. In 2005, he married a childhood family friend, Annette Moore, who worked as a nurse prior to her retirement in 2014. They made their home in West Chester and rekindled friendships with both Norwood High School and University of Cincinnati friends, as well as with local cousins. Richard was active in the NHS alumni association and eagerly anticipated the many Class of ‘57 reunions he helped to plan. Following his return to Ohio, Richard maintained contact with his daughter, Elisabeth, a psychologist, her husband, Chad, in vaccine manufacturing at Merck, and their two children, Abigail (18), who is a freshman at Penn State University’s Schreyer Honors College, and Gavin (13), who is in 7th grade at Radnor Middle School in Wayne, PA.

In addition to his first wife, Richard was preceded in death by his parents, Jack and Ruth Sherman, and his brother-in-law, George S. Torrey. In addition to those named above, he is survived by: sister, Marguerite Sherman Torrey; nephew, Andrew (Jill) Torrey; niece, Kathryn Torrey; and other loving family members and friends. Richard was a loyal friend who maintained some of his relationships for nearly 70 years. He will be missed by his colleagues in York, England and the institutions and organizations he supported there, and also by his compatriots at the Yankanuck Fishing Club in Georgian Bay, Ontario, where he enjoyed “terrorizing the fish” on summer mornings and reading the afternoons away.

A Gathering of Family and Friends will be held Saturday, March 3, 2018 from 10:30 AM to 11:00 AM at Mueller Funeral Home, 6791 Tylersville Road, Mason, Ohio 45040.  A Memorial Service will follow at 11:00 AM at the Funeral Home with Pastor, Dr. Kevin C. Stainton of Heritage Presbyterian Church officiating.  The family will greet guests after the service with food and fellowship.

Richard’s ashes will be interred at a later date in his parents’ burial plot in Chattanooga, TN.

Memorials may be directed to: Norwood Scholarship Foundation, P.O. Box 12522, Norwood, OH 45212; Hospice of Cincinnati, c/o Bethesda Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 633597, Cincinnati, Ohio 45263; or to the charity of your choice.

Please visit muellerfunerals.com to sign the online guestbook.