James Richhart ’64

Since his time in Delta Chi, Brother James Richhart ’64 and his wife, Ann, have gone through a lot, including some recent travelling. Their motto? “If not now, when?” Here is what Brothers James has been up to since his time in Delta Chi in his own words: 

“I graduated with an AB in mathematics in 1964 and a Master’s Degree in actuarial science in 1965 in the business school, both from the UofM. I went to work for John Hancock Insurance Company in Boston. In 1966 and 1967 I served as a commissioned officer in the Public Health Service. I was assigned to the National Center for Air Pollution Control in Cincinnati Ohio.

After my service in the PHS, I returned to Boston and the John Hancock. While there, I passed my examinations and became a Fellow in the Society of Actuaries.

In 1977, I took a position as Chief Actuary of World Insurance in Omaha Nebraska. I remained there until I retired at the end of 1999 as Corporate Secretary and member of the Board of Directors.

In 1981, Ann and I were married. She had a 9-year-old daughter, Shawnda, and I had two sons, Michael (7) and Jason (5). When describing, it sounded like good family planning but it was really a merger and acquisition. Shawnda lives in Mason Ohio with her husband, Mark, and twins, Jack and Grace. She works as an Occupational Therapist. Mike has his dream job flying planes for Delta. He and his wife, Alicia, live in Atlanta with their son, Isaac. Jason died by suicide in 2012.

After Ann retired from the state of Nebraska as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, we moved to Marana (a suburb of Tucson Arizona) in the spring of 2001. (I was tired of shoveling “partly cloudy”.) Ann flunked retirement so she trained to be a hospital chaplain, and continues to serve 3 local hospitals in a part-time capacity.

My hobbies include reading and bridge that I play, teach and direct ACBL sanctioned events. In addition, Ann and I are doing quite a bit a traveling. Our motto, “If not now, when?”

Looking back on my time in the house, the most amazing, unbelievable thing would have been for someone to have told us that the house would serve Delta Chi for another 50 years. I am very grateful for the brothers who have put in the long hours to make the vision of a new chapter house come to fruition.

Over the years, I have kept in contact with brothers Howard Gandelot, Tim Curtin, Mike Kennedy and Steve Baird.”

Brothers can contact Brother James Richhart at [email protected].