I sorry to say Dick French has passed. We lost a great person
Steve

Had many dealings with this man thru my employers printing of the Clemens catalog for many years. For me it was a hands on project each year. He gave me a note allowing me to purchase components at wholesale & tax., (I guarded that note with my life!) and gave us a pile of already built Lew's rods after they bought out Lew's remaining stock following his death. (Lew was once what Angler's Resource is today) I lived 25 miles from the business. I will always be in his debt. RIP ( Visited the place many times and never saw Dale,) Dick was the man. Money was pretty scarce back in those days (my first mortgage int. rate was 10.75%). He helped me out greatly. There are some today who are equally as generous and God bless them.

Back when I started rod building and repair. both Dick French and Dale Clemens were extremely helpful. When I contacted Clemens with a problem or a question they took the time help me out.
They were pioneers in the industry, rest in peace guys.

Rich Kline Custom Rods

Sorry to hear my good friend Dick French has passed away. I met him at the first Rod Crafters meeting I attended many years ago. Dick, Cam Clark and myself used to dine on Saturday night at our meetings. I have great memories of Dick and Cam and the times we shared. Dick was a legend in rod building to a lot of us who had the pleasure of knowing him he will be missed. Fuzz Morgan

Thanks for the info Steve, I was wondering how Dick was doing. I'd written to him in August and hadn't received a response. The Trout Unlimited chapters here in Eastern PA always appreciated Dick's generosity, his donations to chapter functions helped us immensely.

"The greatest barrier to discovery is not ignorance, it's the illusion of knowledge" - Daniel J. Boorstin

Only met the gentleman once at a Lamigas rod building get together maybe ten years ago, though I had done business with him,, he was with Al Goldberg and Billy Vivona if I remember right, they passed on great information that isn't talked about much here on the west coast where saltwater other than salmon, tuna and halibut is an after thought, at it's best we don't have near the knowledge base found on the east coast for rodbuilding in general.