UMass Amherst Alumni Association

Alumni Association Board of Directors

George R. Richason, Jr. '37, '39G is professor and Assistant to the Head of the Department of Chemistry at UMass Amherst. His professional experience includes teaching at Turners Fall High School, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Holyoke Community College and General Electric in Pittsfield.  George served as a Reviewer-Consultant for Van Nostrand Reinhold, Holden-Day, Inc., Houghton-Mifflin Co., McGraw Hill Book Co., John Wiley and Sons and Worth Publishing Co.  He also served as a Radiological Safety Officer as well as serving in the United States Naval Reserve, where he was the Officer-in-Charge of Patent Sections. 

George retired from the Service as Commander in 1969.  His professional honors include being elected to Phi Eta Sigma, being named UMass Amherst Distinguished Teacher of the Year, receiving a NSF Science Faculty Fellowship, and being inducted in to the UMass Amherst Athletic Hall of Fame. George also received an Associate Alumni Award for Distinguished Service to the university and is a Mace Bearer. His professional affiliations include the American Chemical Society, the New England Association of Chemistry Teachers and Sigma XI.  George also did graduate work at Bowdoin College, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Clark University, Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Ames Laboratory.

He graduated from UMass Amherst in 1937 with a Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry and earned his Master's Degree in Chemistry from the university in 1939. George was awarded an honorary degree from UMass Amherst in 1991. He resides in Amherst, Massachusetts. George served as an active member of the Alumni Association Board for over 25 years and is currently an emeritus member.