John Richard Duffield died peacefully at home on October 21, 2022, after a long illness. He was 92 years old. Known to all as Richard or Dick, he was born to Mildred and Stuart Duffield on May 17, 1930, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the second of two sons, and was raised in the bedroom community of Cranford, New Jersey, from which his father commuted into New York City every day. They were a tight-knit family of four. He adored his big brother, Stuart, and loved books. Indeed, his mother often had to send away neighborhood children who came to play, telling them "little Dicky isn't home right now," when he preferred to sit in the corner and read. He attended Cranford High School and remained in touch with many of his classmates for decades after graduation. Dick followed his brother to Williams College in rural Northwestern Massachusetts, where he excelled in academics, edited the student newspaper, served two years as class president, and was co-valedictorian of his class in 1952. One of the highlights of his college years was having a gust of wind scatter the note cards bearing the text of his graduation speech, to the audible gasp of many of those in attendance. Without skipping a beat, however, he carried on with the speech, having memorized it beforehand. In later years, he was a devoted alumnus and active in the Williams College Alumni Association. During college, Dick also spent four years in ROTC before serving a two-year commission in the US Air Force. Most of his time in the Air Force was spent at Marana Air Base outside of Tucson, but as an officer, he was permitted to live in town, where he met his future wife, the then Mary Rose Carroll, on a blind date on Valentine's Day. From 1954 to 1957, he attended Yale Law School, where he served on the law review, married Mary Rose after his first year, and returned to Arizona following graduation to practice law. After less than a year in Phoenix, he joined the Tucson firm of Darnell, Holesapple, McFall and Spaid in order to be closer to Mary Rose's family and because he loved the Tucson area. In 1963, he and several partners left to form their own firm, Spaid, Fish, Briney & Duffield, which has borne his name for nearly six decades, now as Duffield Adamson & Helenbolt. During the 1960s, Dick was very involved in Pima County and Arizona politics, working closely with Mo Udall and Sam Goddard and eventually chairing the state Democratic party. A highlight of his political activity was heading the state delegation to and announcing the Arizona vote at the 1968 Democratic national convention in Chicago. In later years, he would put his own role in events in perspective by noting that because the delegates were bussed to the convention center early in the morning and back to their hotels late at night, they were largely unaware of the historic protests and violence that were taking place nearby. Throughout his life, Dick was active in the Tucson community. He helped found the Southern Arizona Hiking Club and the St. Gregory High School (now The Gregory School) and served on the governing boards, often as president, of those and numerous other civic organizations, including the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the Arizona Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, the Arizona Open Land Trust, the Pima County Legal Aid Society, the Tucson League for Public Schools, and the Friends of the University of Arizona Libraries, among others. He was an active participant in the Tucson Literary Society and a long-time parishioner at St. Philip's in the Hills Episcopal Church, where he served for many years on the vestry and as a Sunday school teacher and youth advisor. Office-bound during the work week, Dick loved to spend his free time in the outdoors. He frequently took his family on picnics and camping vacations, and he hiked in the mountains around Tucson almost every Saturday into his late 70s. Once the children had left the nest, he and Mary Rose extended their adventures to the hiking trails of southern Europe. Throughout his life, Dick was an avid reader. Although he had a particular passion for medieval history and crime novels, his interests were vast, and he delved into topics ranging from Southwestern bird species to constellations, the Bloomsbury Group, and more. He also read both Tucson newspapers and the New York Times from cover to cover every day. Dick loved movies and for much of his life attended foreign films and box office hits weekly. Over the years, he accumulated an extensive collection of video cassettes and DVDs. With his encyclopedic knowledge, if you ever had a particular question about a movie, he could usually answer it. On one occasion, he only half-jokingly suggested that his epitaph should read "But we went to lots of movies." Not least, Dick was a devoted son, husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He and Mary Rose were married for more than 67 years, and they travelled frequently to visit his parents in Massachusetts, their often far-flung children, and, later, grandchildren. They also had a long line of beloved dogs. In addition to Mary Rose, Dick was survived by their four children, Christopher, John (Cheryl Eschbach), Jennifer (Barry Callahan), and Marjorie (Diana Yanez), four grandchildren, Bonnie Callahan (Vitopaolo Prencipe), Elizabeth Duffield (Christopher Price), Kate Callahan (Brad Mascal), and Stuart Duffield, and three great-grandchildren, Gisella Prencipe, Enzo Prencipe, and Arlo Mascal. The family wishes to thank the wonderful caregivers who cared for him so compassionately during the last years of his life. In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes donations in Dick's memory to any of the organizations to which he was devoted. A memorial service will be held on a date to be determined.
