Richard Whited

Whited, Richard is remembered as a quiet, gentle, and honest person. He was born April 16th, 1941 to Ann and Franklin Whited, as a third generation Santa Barbaran from a large Italian American family. After graduating from the last class of Santa Barbara Catholic High School before it became Bishop Diego High School, he attended University California of Santa Barbara (UCSB) to receive a BA and continued on to obtain a PhD in Physics. He conducted his post doctoral research at UCSB and Louisiana State University (LSU) in solid-state spectroscopy. He also began trading on the stock market at this time. Besides his two year stint at LSU, he spent his whole life in Santa Barbara. When he returned home he was employed by EG&G Inc. where he worked for the next seven years on improving gamma ray detectors. In 1979, he met his future wife Paula at a Christmas Party. Two years later they got married and decided to raise a family in Richard’s beloved Santa Barbara. In 1986, upon his long-time broker’s encouragement, Richard turned his hobby in trading into a full-time career by starting his own business as a Commodity Trading Advisor. His business began to grow and with this success he was able to give philanthropic support to causes that were near and dear to his heart, starting with Catholic Charities. He was also one of the original proponents for the successful formation of the city of Goleta and was a very active member of the Good Land Coalition. Maintaining Goleta’s historic orchards, farmlands, and coasts were very important to him. He devoted himself to many other local conservation efforts and supported organizations such as, Environmental Defense Center, Los Padres Forests Watch, Gaviota Coast Conservancy, Santa Barbara Audubon Society, and others. In addition, out of appreciation to all that UCSB gave to him, he endowed a chair to UCSB in the interdisciplinary science with a focus on energy efficiency. Besides philanthropy, he enjoyed traveling, cruising to all seven continents, biking, hiking, playing bridge, and walking on the beach. After a year of declining health, he passed away on May 5th, 2021 of a stroke. He is survived by his wife Paula, two children Tanja and Daniel, Daniel’s wife Olivia, and his sister JoAnn and her family. He is interred at Calvary Cemetery.