Richard Murray Libby

Richard Murray Libby, PhD

Family Man, Educator, Visionary

June 29, 1942 – November 24, 2025

Richard Murray Libby, PhD, husband of former Stetson University president Wendy B. Libby, PhD, died Monday, November 24, 2025, in DeLand, Florida. He passed away peacefully at home in his sleep.

Dr. Libby was born in Hollis, ME on June 29, 1942. He was raised in Buxton, ME, the youngest of eight children of his parents, Alfred Pulsifer Libby and Helen Julia (Tyler) Libby. He was educated in public schools in both Buxton and Portland, ME and acquired his lifelong passion for hunting and fishing in the woods, streams and lakes of southern Maine. His childhood was filled with loving family members who encouraged and supported “little brother.”

Richard loved the outdoors, race cars, fly fishing, hunting, skeet shooting, architecture and design, genealogy, training hunting dogs but above all, his wife of 40 years, Wendy and his family. He passed on his love of life and his pride in “Libby traditions” to his son Gregg (Lori) of Heath, OH, and their children Loren and Austin (Erin), and to his son Glenn (Ginger) of Heath, OH, and their children Kyle (Mallory) and Blake (Hannah). He took great pride in schooling all of them with stories and memories, and delighted in having his six great-grandchildren around him.

In October 2000, Richard started The Libby Family Hunt in Story City, IA, “to perpetuate the long-standing traditions of their ancestors and the love of hunting together for the purpose of continually strengthening the bonds of current and future generations of The Libby Family and friends.” This pheasant hunt continues in Iowa to this day in the fall of every year.

Richard—a BS graduate of the University of Southern Maine (formerly Gorham State College of the University of Maine), MS graduate of Iowa State University and PhD graduate of Michigan State University—was a fierce supporter of technical and higher education having been a faculty member at Iowa State University, college dean and president in Ohio and the executive director of a five-college system in Connecticut. While president at Zane State College in Ohio, he and the program he started, TRACES for technical education transfer, received an award from then Governor Richard Celeste as an exemplary community education program.

He was also the first president of what is known today as the independent Private College 529 Plan. Early in his career, he was a residential home designer with over 200 of his designs constructed.

Content to retire after a career of “pounding 10 pounds of feathers into a one-pound sack,” Richard was happy to follow his wife, Wendy’s, career. Viewing life as an adventure, they moved to Gorham, ME for six years at the University of New England (then Westbrook College), Greenville, SC for eight years at Furman University, Columbia, MO for six years at Stephens College and then to DeLand, FL for Wendy to start her 11-year stint as president of Stetson University.

Shortly after Richard and his wife arrived in DeLand, in 2009, he became known as a university mentor and an ambassador for all things Stetson, with a kind word and a story for everyone. A year later, he founded what now is known as the Stetson University Clay Target Team and began growing its endowment to over $100,000. He also designed and, with Wendy, donated the funds to build a stand-alone second garage behind Stetson’s President’s Home, which was dedicated as “Richard’s Garage” in 2019. Before his wife’s retirement in 2020, the Libbys were named honorary alumni of Stetson University at Homecoming 2019.

A celebration of Richard’s joyful life will be held on the campus of Stetson University on Saturday, April 18, 2026. His ashes will be interred in Groveville, ME next to his father in the family plot.

Gifts in Richard’s honor can be made to Stetson University, c/o Office of Development, 421 N. Woodland Blvd., DeLand, FL 32723 or to the AdventHealth Hospice at 770 W. Granada Blvd., Suite 304, Ormond Beach, FL 32174.