Virgil A. Richard

Richard became an outspoken critic of the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy of the U.S. Armed Forces and gained national media attention as a part of a small group of high-ranking military officers who came out as gay after retirement.

He received his BS in accounting from Oklahoma State University (where he was a member of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity), his Master of Business Administration (Managerial Economics) from George Washington University and was a graduate of the Advanced Management Program of Columbia University, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College.

Richard was an Officer of the Association of the United States Army chapters in Alaska and Indiana, Commander of the Harker Heights, Texas American Legion Post and Assistant State Treasurer of the Texas Department of the American Legion.

Throughout his military career, Richard had assignments in Honolulu, HI, Anchorage, AK, Indianapolis, IN, Washington, DC, and retired in 1991 at Fort Hood, TX.

From 1998 until his death, he lived in Austin, Texas with his partner of 16 years, David W. Potter.