Richard F. Harrington

Richard F. Harrington, (87) of Pittsboro, NC, beloved husband, father, friend and colleague passed away on Wednesday, February 21, 2018 from Parkinson’s disease. The younger son of Edmund and Beatrice Harrington, Dick was born on October 1, 1930, in Pierre, South Dakota. After a childhood in Kadoka, South Dakota, Dick, his brother Ed and their parents migrated west, first to Utah, on to Portland, and then to Eugene, Oregon. Dick graduated from Oregon State University, with a degree in Agriculture-Food Technology, and joined the General Foods Corporation, Birds Eye Division, in Walla Walla, Washington, working in quality control. Promoted to Plant Manager in Walla Walla, Dick’s career took him and his wife, Jeanne Hopkins, and the growing Harrington family across the Pacific Northwest, to Florida and back, and finally to Avon, New York. He oversaw the production, packaging and distribution of everything from frozen vegetables to Cool Whip and Pudding Pops, managing operations in Avon, Fulton, New York and Searcy, Arkansas. Dick retired from the now Kraft Corporation in 1987, after which he and friend Jack Seal developed several successful small businesses before his permanent retirement in 1994. Always known for a quick wit and generous heart, Dick was involved in each and every community in which the family lived. Balancing time between Rushford Lake in western New York, and Fearrington Village, Pittsboro, North Carolina, Dick and Jeanne traveled much of the world, enjoying trips to Africa, Russia, China, Europe, and eventually Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania.

Dick was preceded in death by his brother Ed, his son Todd, and daughter, Cynthia. He leaves behind his beloved wife of 62 years, Jeanne Marie Hopkins, and daughters Ann Marie Amico, Leslie Loomis, Amy Harrington, and sons Richard and Christopher, eleven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. He will be greatly missed.