A native of Pineville, Louisiana, Dr. Richard Bennett, Jr., Ph.D., was born February 10, 1939, to Rev. Richard Bennett and Winifred Lewis Bennett. The youngest of three children, he enjoyed trailing behind his brother, C. Ray and doing the bidding of his sister, Emma Elizabeth.
He attended the public schools in Alexandria, Louisiana before going to college in Atlanta. He received his B. S. in Chemistry at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. While there, he met his wife, Evelyn Sterling. Their union lasted until her passing in 2005. They had six children, Richard III, Natalie, Cheryl, Nicole, Kay and Delaney.
Richard attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, to pursue a doctorate in Biochemistry. Once he finished his doctorate, he began teaching and conducting research at Meharry Medical College in Nashville. In 1973, "Doc," as he was called by his colleagues and students, took the job as Chair of the Chemistry department at North Carolina A&T State University. He worked there for 13 years before becoming Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs at Winston Salem State University in 1986. He later went back to teaching and retired in 2003 as the Dean of Arts and Sciences.
He was busy in his own laboratory, but he found time to pursue other professional activities, such as working for the Agriculture Committee in Congress, serving on the Grant Committee for the National Institutes of Health, conducting research in London, England and Helsinki, Finland, co-founding the N.C. 16 Institutes of Science, and even visiting his children's various schools, where he made model volcanoes erupt. He was also an avid golfer, hunter and fisherman. He was also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
Two of his children preceded him in death. His remaining children include; Dr. Cheryl Bennett, Dr. Nicole Bennett, Kay Bennett Ruth, and Delancy Bennett and his granddaughters, Kaylee, Julie, Hollis and Carson.
