Richard Doolittle, former banking leader, died on Sunday, May 23, 2021, at Froedtert Menomonee Falls Hospital in Menomonee Falls, Wis. He was 88 years old.
Born on Feb. 4, 1933, Doolittle grew up in Lynbrook, N.Y. He graduated from Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y., and after serving two years in the U.S. Army, attended New York University, New York City, where he graduated with a master’s degree in human resource development in 1964.
Doolittle was the associate secretary at the American Institute of Banking in New York, overseeing 100 faculty, student counseling, course development, marketing and administration. After nine years with the AIB, he joined the American Banking Association, where he became the associate director and chief operating officer of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers, with an emphasis in financial and information systems, communications and marketing. Nine years later, he migrated to the Midwest, where he became the president and CEO of the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Herbert V. Prochnow Foundation. For more than two decades in the position, he oversaw all functions at the school and its supporting foundation. He retired in 1995.
Doolittle married Lorraine Francois in 1958. They were married for 49 years, enjoying time together at their “treehouse” condo in Wisconsin Dells and on cruise vacations. He was a member of the Madison Rotary Club and Dane County Public Affairs Council, among other professional organizations. He was the president of the Pine Cove Condo Association for several years, and enjoyed traveling, playing piano, woodworking and gambling.
Doolittle was preceded in death by his wife and his brother, Arthur, and survived by his daughters, Donna Doolittle Brenyo (Douglas) of Mount Pleasant, S.C., and Caren Miller of Germantown, Wis.; his sister, Barbara Itter of Chicago, Ill.; his grandchildren, Aimee, Matthew, Steven, Courtney and Kevin; his great-grandchildren, Jayden and Lucas; his nieces and nephews, and other relatives.