Not that the world would sit up and take notice, but as time passed Richard would acquire a treasure, a wealth of railfaniana to be shared with us all.

Sixty years of cobweb-strewn memories locked up inside K-28 controllers and wrapped in zip stripes cloud recollections of when and where we first met. Suffice to say it would have been either aboard our common hobby, streetcars, or at Poly (Polytechnic) High which we both attended. Today’s terminology would describe the two of us as “nerds,” me with long, shaggy hair and horn-rimmed glasses; Richard as tall and gangly, somewhat stoop-shouldered and awkward, a real “Mutt and Jeff” pair.

My last conversation with Richard consisted of a brief phone call in early February when I called to ask him to scan a couple of photos for me. I immediately detected extreme weariness and exhaustion in his voice but typically his first words were to inquire of my health and family and how things were in Seattle. He told me he couldn’t accommodate me that day, he totally lacked even enough energy to make it up and down his stairs. I pressed him for an explanation and then almost regretted it as he told me his diagnosis.

I was so saddened when Grant Ute sent me the email below advising me that our dear friend Richard had passed to the great Elkton Yard in the sky. He was of course my lifelong close friend. As teenagers we grew up together during the heyday of San Francisco traction. Richard was always willing to help and in later years was my resource for many of the answers I posted on the various Yahoo trolley groups. Many times also he scanned images for me so I could post them online in support of a current thread. There were tears in my eyes as I wrote this message to the MuniHistory group.

Val Golding, Seattle, Washington

I know the two of you were great pals and I am sorry for your loss, Val. I was away at a conference in Asilomar Wednesday until this afternoon. I awoke at 3:45 on Thursday morning thinking about Richard. I could not get back to sleep. At sunup I took a walk along Asilomar Beach to Point Joe—thinking about him. When I came back someone told me the administration was looking for me. They gave me a note from my wife that Richard had passed. When I called his cousin, she told me he died sometime between 3 and 6 a.m.

Well known San Francisco transit historian Richard Ellis Schlaich died at his San Francisco home early yesterday morning. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in mid January and over the past three weeks there had been a remarkable decline in his health and functioning. For the last week Richard had 24 hour live in assistance and was in the care of hospice. Richard was spared pain and his major complaint had been a lack of energy. He kept in contact with his myriad friends and maintained his lifelong interests in San Francisco history, theaters, and mechanical music machines and other interests. Fortunately, he maintained his faculties until the very end. I visited him last on Tuesday and he was in bed. His family was visiting and he had been helped by a core group of neighbors and friends so his physical needs were met and he was comfortable, clear yet tired. Richard was quite a private and self-effacing man who did not want to trouble his friends with his condition. Nonetheless, all of us meant a lot to him. He enjoyed his friendships with each us. He was been a tremendous resource to all of us, a good friend, a mentor and a model. Please keep him in your thoughts or prayers at this time and remember his generosity of spirit, integrity and appreciation of the vitality of the past.

Val, just a note of thanks as you were one of the people who steered me to Dick in late 2002. You were the one who gave me a little background on Dick and encouraged me to meet him. As you may know we developed quite a friendship since then. I was fortunate to have been able to be tutored by him. Through his contact, we got in at Muni and formed Friends of the Muni Archive and have a lasting relationship with Carmen Magana--the head photographer from Muni. I was able to mobilize Dick last summer and Fall to go over to Muni to help with the inventorying of their collection. I started out wanting to find out about some later (1939-1940) Muni info and we never got much past 1922 (which was his real passion). We were in almost daily phone contact one way or the other and we saw each other at least weekly. I consider myself to have been his "last apprentice"--although I wish the time were not so short. He delegated to me responsibility to get Jerry Graham's pictures to the San Francisco Public Library (per Graham's wishes). I am just finishing that project up as it was boxes of loose envelopes and negatives and prints. It turns out that the San Francisco collection probably consists of over 6000 items--5000+ images of streetcars. Dick also appointed me to help him get his collection preserved. I am working on that with his family now. I saw him last on Tuesday. It was clear that he was comfortable--just very tired. He told me, "I can't talk about streetcars." After I left I called Carmen. She visited him on Wednesday--and may have been the last "Muni" person to have seen him. He went early on Thursday morning. I am glad he did not suffer a prolonged end. I just wanted to thank you for being instrumental in my getting to know this gentle and generous man. We're going to get some sort of a memorial celebration together.

Grant Ute, San Francisco, California.

I am saddened to hear of Dick Schlaich's passing. I've known Dick for many years and he was always congenial. He was a regular rider of my F-Line streetcar and a valued historian of San Francisco transportation. He will be missed. He was also a good friend of Emiliano Echeverria, another SF Transit historian and a member of this group. Hopefully, Emilano or someone else will work hard to preserve Richard's archives for posterity.

Peter Ehrlich (SFMuniHistory listowner) San Francisco, California

The following was written as a tribute to: Richard Schlaich and to support, dare I say request for, the establishment of an award bearing the name of Richard Schlaich, of San Francisco. An award of “Lifetime Achievement” to be presented by the Market Street Railway (and / or additional other related organizations) “in recognizing contributions made over decades toward the preservation and diffusion of materials relating to San Francisco’s transportation history, the restoration of its equipment, and advocacy of historic operations.” I’d also be remiss if I did not request that Richard Schlaich to be the first recipient of the award that would bear his name, now posthumusly. That I also support the idea that Market Street Railway have a commemorative plaque made for the recipient, That it decide that it also may become an annual award. Here’s my reasons: I first met Richard Schlaich in 1983 through his good friend the late Emmanuel Mohr. From Emmanuel I found out many facts about Richard that Richard was too humble to brag about. I found Richard to be, however, a gentle giant when it came to preserving much of San Francisco’s surviving transportation heritage. His achievements were exemplary yet due to his personal modesty, he never “tooted his horn” or demanded special consideration, thus, he is not as well known to many in the current San Francisco traction community. The results of his ongoing labors ultimately resulted in the F line of today and the upcoming E line operations with the cars that provided the foundations of the future historic fleet of the Municipal Railway of San Francisco: cars Muni 1 and MSRy 578(S). He began his serious interest in San Francisco’s transportation history while a student at Polytechnic (Poly) High School in the late 1940s. He managed to get a photo of Sacramento & Clay car # 25 (then, the last S & C cable car at Washington & Mason) in the 1950 yearbook. Things progressed from there, and, as this was the period of mass scrappings of streetcars, several opportunities arose to acquire for restoration many streetcars from San Francisco. Richard and many of his friends were young adults then, and efforts were made to set aside several cars, an effort that met with many initial frustrations, at first. It might be appropriate to list some of the efforts that Richard involved himself over the years. Most notable were the efforts to preserve cable cars Clay Street Hill #8, Sutter St. Cable train 46 – 54, Cal Cable # 42, Muni Powell Cable 1 (Restoration), Powell Cable 514 (I), Cal Cable dinky 62, MSRy Sacramento Clay 19, MSRy Sacramento Clay 20, MSRy Sacramento Clay 25. Also, efforts were made over the years to preserve electric cars 0103 (wrecker), 0109 (rail grinder), 0130 (Crane), 0601 (sand car ex 578), 798, 974, 1231, 1234, 1553, San Francisco, [for MSRY]; for Muni: 1, 130, 162, 171, 178, 317 (ex URR 755), 1003, C-1, and the various PCC cars that have gone to museums since the 1980s. It might be noted that there are several cars named on this list that haven’t survived. When efforts made to preserve cars from San Francisco were repeatedly unsuccessful, it looked like all opportunities for preservation were lost. By the early 1950s, it was almost academic. Richard was actively involved in the effort to preserve San Mateo cars 1231, 1234, URR 1553, and wrecker 0103. These efforts were in vain, as Richard and his young friends had little or no money, and were not able to persuade those with the means to help. With these setbacks in mind Richard met with Gilbert Kneiss, President of the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway Historical and Locomotive Society (RHLS), and then an executive of the Western Pacific Railroad. Kneiss was able to interest the RHLS in trying to persuade Muni to preserve two remaining cars for eventual static display, since Muni had no interest in their further use or storage. These two cars were Muni car 1 and ex Market St Ry sand car 0601 (ex MSRy 578). LHRS provided funding for restoration and assisted in transportation and storage of the cars off Muni property during the years 1959-62. Today these cars are the senior cars of San Francisco’s historic car fleet. Richard worked with a veritable “Who’s who?” of California railroad historians and preservationists. Over the last half century and more, Richard has collaborated with Charles Smallwood, Roy Graves, Emmanuel Mohr, Walt Vielbaum, Fridel Klussmann, Fred Stindt, Arthur Lloyd, Robert Townley, Randolph Brant, Francis Guido, Ira Swett, Tom Gray, Don Olsen, John Gerrard Graham, Walter Rice, Grant Ute, Emiliano Echeverria, the Muni Photo Department, Carmen Magana, and many more. He accumulated and preserved an extraordinary body of photographic and documentary materials relating to the history of the first century of San Francisco’s transit. These materials have been shared freely by Richard with many persons interested in the subject over the decades. In addition, Richard was instrumental in assisting Muni in its recovery of the hundreds of glass plates from its collection that had been loaned to the late Charles Smallwood and that were slated to be auctioned. Richard took on the role of a concerned citizen of San Francisco. He consulted and advocated for maintenance and upkeep of the stored, preserved cars during their years of relative inactivity. His continued active involvement and input kept efforts alive to keep restoration efforts authentic. He has railed in protest many times, when he felt that a restoration was ruined by an erroneous paint job, doors where there had been none, or other alterations to cars in the “restoration” process. He “kept it honest.” Richard’s love of music was remarkable and his work with Charles Smallwood maintaining and rebuilding the mechanical instruments in Smallwood’s collection are not well known yet important aspects of Richard Schlaich. He built from scratch two mechanical orchestrions, which will, hopefully, be preserved. Truly an artistic achievement. Another little known activity of Richard's was monitoring the status and pushing for the restoration of the "Little Puffer" train at the ZOO. The train was nearly auctioned off, until Richard found out and raised a stink. Today, the "Little Puffer" once again echoes to the sounds of childrens laughters and joys, due to a quiet man who cared, though he had no children of his own. He was been a loyal friend to me even in the worst of times in my life. He was always generous, informative and kind, and a humble, gentle soul. So many afternoons that drifted into evenings we spent talking about some fine detail in history that others passed over. I had the honor of Richard sharing his valuable knowledge in assisting in the preparation of Walter Rice and my upcoming work about the history of the Market St. Railway of 1893. He was an active part of the work until December, when he began to lose stregnth. He was and will be noted as a consulting co-author, and the book will be dedicated to his memory. It was one of his life dreams that this book would be written, my regret is that Richard did not live to see the finished book, I hope he will be watching..... Now that he is gone, I'd like to see a plaque on car 1 or 578 (the cars he was most active in saving) memorializing him and his contributions. He never received any pay for his efforts, his satisfaction was the knowledge that history could live, a true labor of love from a very good man. Its the least that could be done to remember this gentle, humble giant of traction. Richard was one of "the greats", who along with his many traction theatrical and musical friends made our local histories come alive.. The next time you ride car 1 or 578, or any historic trolley or cable car, think of the fact that Richard's steady hand made it possible. Before Maury Klebolt, Rick Laubscher, Dave Pharr, and the wonderful folks at BAERA and MSR, Richard sheparded our attentions at the inportance of preservation. Before there was a museum at "Rio Vista Junction" Richard and friends like Charlie Smallwood and Gilbert Kneiss were there trying to save these relics. We wont see his like again. Rest in peace, my friend, I for one, and I bet I speak for many, will miss you terribly. But wour good work will now outlast us all. 2 bells, my friend, I'll never forget you tengo lagrimas tambien

Emiliano Echeverria, San Francisco, California

It is hard for me to add to what has said by Emiliano, Grant, Val and others about Dick. As I remember his life and the times that I have known him, several things stand out. First he was always there to call me and pass on news (good and bad) of what has happened to our friends. I remember specifically, his calls to inform me about the deaths of John (Jerry) Graham and more recently Emanuel Mohr. He of course, had a special fondness for the Market Street Ry (later S.F. Muni) #11 line and we as teenagers wondered if he would be able to survive with it. He did indeed for some 55 years after it's abandonment. His mother, Miriam Schlaich, was a very accomplished artist and many of her paintings would appear on Dick's Christmas cards. The house was filled with her paintings. She told me, at one time, while she was at an art gallery, a famous Hollywood celebrity (either Edward G. Robinson or Humphrey Bogart) came in and bought of her paintings. How pleased she was that her ability was noted by others. The Schlaich family had a TV before we did, and whenever there was a famous event, I would walk over to Dick's House (it was a long walk) and watch it on TV. One such time was the arrival of General Macarthur upon his return to the United States in April 1951. We watched the plane arrive at the airport and the General depart in San Francisco's official car (a 1930 Lincoln convertible), then Dick and I walked down to Mission Street to watch the motorcade go by. Dick, may you spend eternity riding that heavenly #11 line.

Bob Townley, Columbia, California

In recent years I had the pleasure to meet with Dick Schlaich many times. In addition to interests mentioned in earlier posts Dick also collected old Menus and was a fan of Big Band Leader Shep Fields. He also enjoyed a very large Video collection of his favorite TV programs. Yes his mother did what I would term very sensitive heart warming portrait paintings. I would always enjoy seeing them. Ask him about something and he would have more than a short answer. I last spoke to him in late January and knew then that he was not doing well. I certainly will miss him and will treasure the memory of my visits with him.

Ralph Anastasio, San Francisco, California

Dear Val, It is hard for me to concieve that Dick is gone. Although I had known Dick for but a few years, we had become good friends. I will greatly miss our long phone conversations about San Francisco, the Market Street Railway and my goats. My last phone call from Dick dealt with his concerns about the rainy weather and the goats. Dick had a great sense of humor, when I would call and get his machine I would voice something to the effect "Samuel Kahn is waiting for you at 24th and Hoffman!" Dick would answer in kind. Now Dick can get answer to our question, what were Samuel Kahn's plans with Yellow Coach for the MSRy's streetcar system? I loved our detailed conversations. He was a treasure.

Walter In Shanghai

Val, I'm not very good at "tributes." Dick was always very kind to me answering all my questions about the old Market Street Railway and for that I will always be grateful. His willingness to help me is something I will miss terribly. On the positive, he and Jerry and together again--having dinner and telling tales.

Steven Clark

I have not seen Rich for quite some time and was totally surprised when Grant Ute told me he had cancer. I was equally surprised that he went so fast. I knew Rich through Jerry Graham who I had known for years. Rich and Jerry ate dinner quite frequently at Caesar's near the Wharf. Occasionally I would join them. Of course the conversation always got around to streetcars, old San Francisco or the old MUNI or MSRy. One thing that always impressed me about Rich was his attention to detail. His mind seemed to be full of these little known facts about certain cars or events that most people would never even notice. If it came down to getting something correct, Rich was the one to do it. Another one of the fans that is also great for details is Phil Hoffman. As I mentioned in my post on Peter's list, a lot of these little known facts and details go to the grave as these old timers pass on. One good thing that Charlie Smallwood left us was his great book, The White Front Cars of San Francisco.

Mike Sheridan, San Francisco, California