Richard J. Wright marine collection

Richard Wright was born in Akron, Ohio, in 1935. Wright’s interest in lake shipping found its origins in the many summers which, as a boy, he spent at Conneaut, Ohio, then was a very busy port. His interest took him aboard the steamers of the M. A. Hanna Co. fleet where he labored for five summers as a coalpasser and fireman.

Specializing in the study of history, Wright earned bachelor's and masters degrees from the Uniersity of Akron and a doctoral degree from Kent State University. His graduate and dissertation work focused on the history of American Ship Building Company and its predecessor companies. In 1968, he began a position as an assistant professor of history at Bowling Green State University, and as such he found himself in a position to take an active part in the preservation of the history of lake shipping. He was founder and director of the Northwest Ohio – Great Lakes Research Center, which is now known as the Center for Archival Collections, and was editor of BGSU’s maritime newsletter Lake Log Chips.

One of Dr. Wright's major achievements was his book Freshwater Whales, published in 1969, which fleshed out his dissertation on the history of the American Ship Building Company and its numerous predecessors. The history of the various lake shipbuilders was one of his prime interests over the years. He was a member of numerous marine historical societies and was named Historian of the Year in 1978 by the Marine Historical Society of Detroit.

Wright suffered a massive heart attack early in September 1986 and, on September 17, underwent quadruple bypass surgery at University Hospital in Bowling Green. He passed away that evening.