Richard Rathbun: A life Written and Designed by Tai Livnat
From the outside, Richard Rathbun’s house seems like any other typical Californian home, with a traditionally painted exterior and a concrete path leading up to the door. Once inside, it is clear that this is not the case. When walking in, you are immediately overwhelmed by an assortment of colorful and unique items. Whether it’s the tribal masks he brought back with him from his travels in India or the alarmingly large boa constrictor snakeskin hung on his wall, the items in Richard’s house make it feel like a gateway to a different world, immersed in foreign cultures. The house itself is not large, and the backyard makes up most of the property. Right outside the back door, there is a relaxed area with a fire pit, shaded by vines and leaves. Further down, he has a beautifully tended yet still wild-feeling garden with beehives and roaming chickens. Richard’s house, full of objects with the air of exciting adventures and experiences, tells a story about who he is. For the past 60 years, he has traveled the world, visiting over 80 countries. He has helped local communities abroad and continues to do so in his community today. Richard is a native of the Bay Area, and for a large portion of his life, he has been in pursuit of living more meaningfully. For him, this is achieved through helping others on local and global scales. Richard was born in Palo Alto, California in July of 1940 to Harry and Emilia Rathbun. His father, an established law professor at Stanford, hosted many students and family friends who went on later to become influential, including John F. Kennedy, Diane Feinstein, Bill Hewlett, David Packard, and Sandra Day O’Connor. Growing up in this intellectual environment gave Richard a unique perspective on life that perhaps not every person his age would have. During his teenage years, Richard’s mother sent him to a variety of places to spend his summers. His mother, originally from Mexico, sent him to Guadalajara and arranged for him to spend a summer there with a local family. During another summer, he explored the Sierra Nevadas with legendary mountaineers Norman Clyde and Jules Eichorn. Reflecting on this adventure, Richard said, “We never saw another human being, didn’t for two months” (R. Rathbun). Because Richard was studying at Stanford at the time, he was able to avoid the Vietnam War draft. Because of his good fortune, he felt that he owed something to all the people that went in his place. This was one of the factors that first inspired him to go and
Richard in his teens working on a car, Late 1950s
spend a summer in Hong Kong through a Stanford program called “Volunteers in Asia”, and then volunteer for the Peace Corps in Nepal. In Nepal, Richard was sent to teach the native farmers how to industrialize their agriculture methods, and to grow food not only for themselves but for profit. Once he was there, he soon realized that the Nepalese village he was stationed in, although very primitive in its way of life, actually lived better than how people in industrialized countries did. From then on, he decided to see what he could get done and learn under the instruction of the local villagers, saying that “that was the year I learned from the villagers more than I could ever brought to them” (R. Rathbun). After spending his prescribed two years of service, he was promoted to associate director in the Peace Corps and decided to stay an extra year, which evolved into another four. Although he hasn’t had much to do with the program since, Richard described the experience as incredibly transformative, asserting that “nobody who stayed there for two years didn’t come home a different person, a very different person” (R. Rathbun). After serving around six years in Nepal, Richard took his car and drove it all around the Indian subcontinent looking for waves to surf. During what became his long drive home, Richard stayed in coun-
tries for years at a time, traveling all around Africa and the Middle East. While reminiscing on his experiences in different countries, he recalled meeting people along his travels and asking them what their favorite country was. He recounted that almost every person he talked to saying something about Afghanistan. This led to him setting Afghanistan as his next, and what would be his last, destination during his road trip around the world. He traveled along the ancient silk road, experiencing what people refer to now as Afghanistan’s golden age, before any of the conflicts that were to come years later. He described the Afghans as being an incredibly simple people at the time, with a very primitive lifestyle. After Afghanistan, he decided he was ready to end what had become the journey of a lifetime. After a brief three-month road trip touring the rest of the United States, Richard returned to Palo Alto and started to work at a foundation his parents started called the Creative Initiative Foundation. The organization was created for social activism, playing a key role in ending the building of nuclear power plants in the 70s. He worked his way up until he became the president of the organization, and due to the political climate of the world at the time, decided to rename the organization the Beyond War Foundation. According to Richard, the foundation focused on avoiding nuclear war and establishing a more peaceful world, creating change across the world, and even contributing to the fall of the Berlin Wall. During his time in the Beyond War Foundation, Richard made countless trips between the Soviet Union and the United States, communicating with top Kremlin and United States officials to push for nuclear disarmament. One of the crowning achievements of his tenure during this time was giving Ronald Reagan his foundation’s award for creating lasting peace in the world, the Beyond War Award. Much of Richard’s humanitarian lifestyle comes from his dad. His father, Harry Rathbun, was a law professor at Stanford during the 1940s and 1950s. Richard explained that one day, one of Harry’s students came to him. He said, ‘’I’ve got an amazing academic education here at Stanford, but I’m scared to go out in the world because I know nothing about what I’m going to face next” (R. Rathbun). Harry, thinking about what his student had said, and according to Richard, being a “kind of a philosopher”, decided to give his last lecture of the year on how to live a purposeful and meaningful life instead of on law. The lecture received a standing ovation, so it became a yearly event for
Richard reading at a base camp in the Himalayas, 1970s
students all around campus to visit and listen to what would be coined “Harry’s Last Lecture.” This tradition would be upheld all the way until Harry’s retirement in 1959. In honor of his father’s enduring influence, Richard created a program at Stanford to continue his father’s legacy. He described first discussing the idea with his colleagues in 2006 as a way to put his foundation’s funding to good use. Finally, after a year or so of planning, Richard and his colleagues decided on their inaugural speaker to be Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve in the United States Supreme Court. She was asked to be the first speaker because she had studied under Richard’s father while at Stanford, and according to her Wikipedia page, he had “shaped her undergraduate and law careers”, with the supreme court website also stating that Richard’s father had “inspired her to study law”. Stanford held its inaugural event hosted by Sandra Day O’Connor in 2008. Stanford’s website for the program describes the event as a three-day process where “students and others discover and reflect upon issues of meaning and purpose during a time of potentially monumental growth in their character and spirit”. Since its inaugural event, the
R.B.G at the Rathbun Lecture on What Leads to a More Meaningful Life, 2017
program has had speakers such as Oprah Winfrey, the 14th Dalai Lama, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, impacting several generations of Stanford students. At home, Richard promotes the welfare of his family. When asked about Richard, his wife, Lacy, talked about some of the things he does at home for her and their two kids. She was very quick to bring up how Richard is always giving, “even when there’s not a whole lot left [to give]” (L. Rathbun). One example she gave was the small art shed in their backyard. When Lacy told Richard she needed a place to work on her art, Richard immediately started constructing on his own what turned out to be a beautiful little art area for Lacy to enjoy. Building a shed by yourself is no mean feat, especially at 81 years old, but kind acts like this aren’t out of the norm for Richard. Lacy described him as getting immense joy from the things he does for his family, and while interviewing him, it was very clear that this was true. Travel is one of the bonding methods Richard enjoys most with his family. They have taken countless trips together, often with other close friends, to spend meaningful time with the people he loves. Throughout the years he and his family have gone to places as far as the southernmost tip of Latin America, and as close as local campsites right in their backyard in the Bay Area. No matter the distance he travels, the thing he always values most about those trips is being able to spend time with his family. Just like any other parent, Richard has come to understand that raising kids is a complex and arduous process. Although comparing raising kids to being “politics in itself ” (R. Rathbun) and stating that it’s the toughest job he’s ever undertaken, Richard was quick to say that raising two sons is the most rewarding thing he’s ever done. Recently, Richard has had the opportunity to bond with his youngest son, Milo, over surfing. Part of the original wave of surfers, Richard is very connected to the surf culture we know today. In his younger years, he surfed at Santa Cruz and interacted with surfing legends like Johnny Rice and Jack O’Neill. He has since translated his experience into spending time with Milo over the subject, teaching him about ocean currents, surf spots, and how different boards work. Richard’s ability and willingness to do such things lend to his thoughtful and generous character. Since the two-year-long road trip Richard took with his family to Ecuador around a decade ago, he has been brainstorming on how to make a further impact on those around him.
Richard drinking a cup of tea in his backyard, May 2022
For the foreseeable future, Richard wants to be able to share his long life experience with others. While he considered writing a book, he has decided to create something a little more modern like a website. He imagines the site as a place to share his treasure trove of stories and life lessons derived from his unique experiences, available to those who would be interested in them. Although the concept sounds quite ambitious, he described his true goal as sharing his knowledge with his two sons, Ryan and Milo. Although at first glance outdated and irrelevant to today’s world, Richard believes that many of his life lessons are timeless and can be applied to the present, no matter the current state of the world.
“Go through life in love and not fear”
-Richard Rathbun
About the Author Tai Livnat is a junior at Freestyle Academy. He enjoys different things like sports, activities with friends, and being creative. He is a lifeguard at the local pool and also does video editing work as a side hustle. He enjoys problem solving, and has always had an interest in entrepreneurship. Although he is not certain on what career path he is going to pursue, he sees himself getting a degree in business to further his entrepreneurial skills.
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