Richard Joseph Preston III, “Dick” Preston, passed away on January 7, 2025, at the age of 93.  He was encircled by his family in a loving ceremony. 

He is predeceased by his first wife and partner of over 37 years, Sarah Jane Capps (1933-1991), and survived by their five children (Sarah, Alice, Susan (David), Richard IV, and Jennifer), his second wife and partner of over 32 years, Elizabeth (Betty) Jean Cutler (1945- ), two step children (Dan (Heather) and Tim (Lucie) Cross), and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Dick was born to Richard Joseph Preston Jr. and Alice Elizabeth MacDuff Preston in 1931. His father was a forester who became Dean of the School of Forestry at North Carolina State University. His mother and stepmother (Bernice “B” Boynton Preston) were both advocates of child development, in which his stepmother completed a Doctoral Degree in 1936 when very few women entered higher academia.

During his own early university studies Dick found himself drawn to the field of Anthropology, ultimately completing a Doctoral Degree at the University of North Carolina. There he met and married Sarah Jane Capps in 1953, and together they raised a family while building life-long relationships among the James Bay Cree people that were profoundly formative to the persons they each became. 

Dick learned from and worked closely with and for Cree elders, community leaders, and youth for over 60 years, and was honoured with the name Preston “She’yuu” (Preston Elder). His research and the deep insights he gained were instrumental in supporting the Crees’ initiatives in the events culminating in the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, the first modern Indigenous treaty in Canada. He provided wise counsel to the Cree on numerous occasions, including during the Consult on the Nemaska Cree First Nation village relocation and community reunification, and as an active participant in the Cree Way Project that pioneered, developed and introduced Cree language and cultural knowledge into the Cree’s modern school curriculum.

In 1971 Dick accepted a faculty position in the new Department of Anthropology at McMaster University where he taught and researched until he reached the then mandatory retirement age of 65 and was appointed Professor Emeritus. He was a thought-provoking and natural intellectual, and his rich collaborations with Cree and other colleagues continued until his death. 

His deep rich voice and ability to express ideas vividly made for exceptional storytelling. He described himself as a man of stories, and he loved teaching and said he learned so much from his students.

His interests were wide and in addition to educational pedagogy and institutional development, they included personality, emotions, relational ethnography, oral literature, psychology of culture, control and responsibility in the context of resource developments, and issues of community survival and renewal.

His major publication was a monograph based on his dissertation, with a second edition published in 2002 as “Cree Narrative: Expressing the Personal Meaning of Events” (McGill-Queens University Press). Most recently he collaborated on the production of the social history volume, “People of the Moose River Basin” (2021, Moose Cree First Nation). 

He was a founder of the Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA). Among the honours he received were the Weaver-Tremblay award for exceptional contributions to Canadian applied anthropology (2006), the Founding Fellows Award of CASCA which is given to members “whose contributions have defined anthropology in Canada” (2014), and publication by his peers of a book in his honour entitled “Together We Survive: Ethnographic Intuitions, Friendships, and Conversations” (2016, McGill-Queens University Press).

Dick was widely respected as a kind, thoughtful, wise, compassionate, and humble person. These are qualities that he observed and respected among the Cree. And qualities that found a sympathetic spiritual home among the Quakers. Dick followed his first wife, Sarah, into spiritual practice with Quakers in 1971, and was active with the Hamilton Meeting throughout his later years.

At the age of 61, after Sarah’s death, Dick married Betty, also a Quaker. Their special bond lasted until his death at 93. With more leisure time, Dick and Betty shared in his life-long appreciation of the arts, literature, music and theatre, and they enjoyed travelling for work and pleasure. Over the years they took great joy in watching their many grandchildren and great grandchildren grow. 

One of his favourite places was the Quaker Camp NeeKaunis, on Georgian Bay, where he found peace in service among Friends and nature, and reflected on what a culture of peace within broader society could be.

Dick’s Quaker practice led to his role as founding chair of the Hamilton Branch of the Canadian Department of Peace Initiative, and to his activities aimed at peace-building locally with Culture of Peace. In recognition of this work, he was named Hamilton’s World Citizen of the Year for 2011. He also served as a Board member of the Hamilton Branch of the United Nations Association in Canada, where he sponsored the Social Geography Project.

As husband, brother, father, grandfather, great grandfather, friend, scholar, and Quaker, he was a teacher and mentor, humanist anthropologist, peace activist, a lover of music, and an elder to many. 

Dick Preston’s journey from this life was blessed by the gift of a new pair of Cree moccasins in keeping with Cree tradition, delivered on Christmas Day, which he wore as he passed. His family is eternally grateful to the generosity of the Cree people for their gifts of friendship and teaching. He often adopted subtle aspects of the Cree sense of humour, and as he passed he called out to us all, “Bye!”

He deeply loved his family, his colleagues, and his students, and he took pride in celebrating and honouring each person’s uniqueness and achievements. His was a life well lived, and he will be greatly missed by all.

A full bibliography of his scholarly works- is available at https://www.richardpreston.ca/.