In Memoriam: Ann Willis Richards

Posit Science CEO Jeff Zimman sent this message to our team on September 14. We thought it was worth sharing.

Ann Richards, former Governor of Texas and a very special advisor to our company, completed her physical journey on this earth last night (September 13th). She was a true friend to us.

While probably best known for her wit and her verve, which were always unmistakably present, I remember her most for her passions for people and for truth.

Our company’s mission is to get the latest in brain health research out of the lab and into the world, where it can help people. Gov. Richards came to help us because of that mission.

She dedicated her energy to things that could help people – especially those often ignored by the powerful. She busted open Texas government to include women and minorities. She was equally concerned with those who struggle with disease and impairment. She candidly turned her own battles with alcoholism and osteoporosis into public education lessons.

Gov. Richards was committed to making life better for the elderly. The title of her last book expressed her philosophy about aging: I’m Not Slowing Down.

She immediately grasped the potential of the brain health technology we develop. In our first meeting, this “tough Texan” talked about Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs” and how life should be “a continuous unfolding of self.” She lived her life in that spirit.

On her 60th birthday she got a Harley Davidson and learned to ride it. She had a passion for life and new learning.

She also had a passion for truth. She was a beta tester of our first programs. While most beta testers told us wonderful stories about how our programs improved their lives, Gov. Richards wrote us the most helpful of all e-mails. They contained phrases like “you have to fix this,” “this is just confusing,” “this is annoying,” “no one is going to put up with this” and. my favorite, “this is just bad.” She could be that blunt and we just loved her more for it, because we knew she cared and we knew she was right, and maybe, most of all, because she always wrote something funny that made you smile or laugh. There is no question that she gave us a stream of very good advice that is now reflected in our programs.

Our last email exchange was in May. I had shared the news of our partnership with Humana and also some information on managing the cognitive side effects often associated with chemotherapy. Her response was classic: “ Thanks for this…I will be in Houston most of May doing radiation for this cancer and I hope to do some brain work with our program while I am there and bored to death.”

She was not one to be passive or bored. Asked once what she might have done differently had she known she was going to be a one-term governor, Gov.Richards grinned. "Oh, I would probably have raised more hell."

I sure am glad she gave us hell when we needed it, and I hope we all will take a lesson from her and live life to the fullest . . . and don’t forget to make people laugh . . . and, now and then, make a ruckus.

A donation has been made in her memory to the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, which opened in Austin in 2007. Learn more