Richard T. Wright Fund

Richard Treat Wright loved the natural world and taking hikes around all the fields and streams and nooks and crannies of his beloved town of Orange.

“He led seniors on hikes,” said Henry T. Petry CLU, ChFC, Richard’s financial advisor and friend. “He liked sharing the outdoors with others.”

So much so, that he left a major bequest to The Community Foundation to establish the Richard T. Wright Fund. Included in that amount were outright gifts to local organizations he cared deeply about. But the majority of the Fund establishes an endowment to be used by the Orange Land Trust to maintain and preserve open space in the town so that everyone in the community has the chance to enjoy nature and by the town of Orange for the maintenance and preservation of land off Old Grassy Hill Road and Wright’s Pond where Richard skated as a boy. The property once belonged to Wright and his brothers,
Stanley and Thomas Wright.

Richard worked for the state of Connecticut’s department of Income Maintenance for much of his life. “He lived very frugally,” Petry said, and his investments grew over time. In his later years he donated about $10,000 annually to charities. “He always cared about giving,” and his wish was to create a Fund with The Community Foundation.

Though he lived simply, Petry said, Wright’s interests were wide ranging: ballroom dancing, local history and spending time with his nieces and nephew. After retirement, Wright could be found working at the Orange Town Pool, volunteering with the Connecticut Food Bank, gardening and exploring paths familiar or new.

“The town of Orange and the open spaces there meant a great deal to Richard,” Petry recalled.