Richard Starr Pettus

Richard Starr Pettus, age 80, of Bel Air, MD, formerly of Staten Island, NY, passed away on February 3, 2017 at the Harford Memorial Hospital in Havre de Grace, MD. Born in Santa Barbara, CA, he was the son of John DeForest Pettus and Elizabeth (Jennings) Pettus. He attended Emmanuel Episcopal Church and was in the chorus at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. He played soccer with Manufacturer's Hanover Trust team in the 1970's-1980's. He was involved with the early computer programming in developing the COBOL language. He retired from Manufacturer's Hanover Trust in 1991. He enjoyed working binary puzzles, logic puzzles, and wooden puzzles. He played many instruments including, saxophone, violin, piano, and many others. He enjoyed reading books and would never leave the house without a book in hand, particularly science fiction. He also enjoyed Chinese artifacts.

Mr. Pettus is survived by his wife of 49 years, Maria Pettus; children, Richard Starr Pettus, Jr. of Belle Mead, NJ, Karen Sroczynski and her husband James of Bel Air, MD, and Stevie Famulari of Bronx, NY; grandchildren, Teresa Sroczynski, Clare Sroczynski, and Andrew Sroczynski; siblings, Elizabeth Pettus Losa of Boston, MA, Timothy Pettus of MA, Charlotte Pettus Alexandre of CO, and Andrew Christopher Pettus of Lafeyette, LA.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his brother, John DeForest Pettus, Jr.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to: Reading is Fundamental 1730 Rhode Island Ave. NW, Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20036.