Instead, he entered the University of California, Berkeley, as a graduate student, where he earned a Ph.D. in Chinese literature in 1949 with a dissertation entitled, "The Doctrine of Non-Duality in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra."
Once he received his Ph.D. in 1949, Mather was hired as a professor at the University of Minnesota, where he founded the Chinese program and developed its courses.
The group also participated in Chinese language conferences at which their panel members would read papers on their particular areas of interest and research.
As the author of several noteworthy books, he is especially well-known for his monumental English translation of the Chinese classic, "Shih-shuo Hsin-yü," by Liu I-ch'ing (403-444).
A memorial to Richard B. Mather was also published in the Princeton Alumni Weekly (December 2, 2015 - Volume 116, Number 5) that provides a black & white graduation picture and a brief biography.