During his tenure as insurance commissioner, Shaw was primarily noted for his ability to speak to the common man, as he enjoyed traveling throughout the state to meet personally with industry workers and hear their concerns.
This was especially important during a period in which West Virginia was experiencing one of the worst economic crises in the state’s history.
He had wanted to attend a local primarily white college but was denied admission due to segregation.
The Shaws later moved to Wheeling, West Virginia, where Richard found work with a prominent insurance corporation until his appointment by Governor Rockefeller in 1977.
At the end of Rockefeller’s tenure as governor, Shaw relocated again to Washington, D.C., with his family, at which time he became an ordained minister.