Retired Hicksville teacher Richard Ericson dies

Richard Ericson, a retired Hicksville High School arts teacher, will be remembered for the thousands of works he created and his encouraging attitude, friends and family said.

"He was an all-around artist," his son Mark Ericson, 50, a Centereach lawyer, said. "He painted . . . every day. He was kind, gentle and friendly."

Richard Ericson began drawing as a 5-year-old and continued until he died on Monday at 88, his son said.

His works included paintings, etchings and sculptures. In the last months, he created cartoons and other drawings, according to his son.

Born in Chicago in 1922, Ericson moved to Scarsdale as a young child and graduated from high school there. He worked as a commercial artist before enlisting in the Army. He trained as a medic in World War II, serving in North Africa and Europe. When discharged in 1945, he moved to Chicago.

In 1948, he married and moved his family to Mexico, where he earned a bachelor's degree at Mexico City College. When Ericson returned to the United States in the late 1950s, he took a job teaching in Dutchess County, his son said.

In 1960, Ericson was hired as an art teacher at Hicksville High School and held that job until he retired in 1984. He lived briefly in Levittown before purchasing a Hicksville home where he remained until months before his death. In the 1960s, he received a master's degree in education from Adelphi University.

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While teaching various forms of art, Ericson pursued a wide range for his own work. "He created thousands of works of art," his son Mark said, including realistic landscapes and portraits as well as imaginative scenes with oil paints, water colors and pens.

After retiring, Ericson often painted images of buildings in Cold Spring Harbor and exhibited his work around Long Island, his son said.

William Horne, 72, of Islandia, taught at Hicksville High School with Ericson and has several of his paintings in his home. "He was very talented," Horne said. "He was well liked by his students. . . . He had a gift for showing you what he wanted you to understand."

Frank VanBrunt, 56, of Hicksville, lived next door to Ericson for more than 13 years. "He was one of the most positive guys I ever met in my life," he said.

Richard Ericson is also survived by sons Richard, of Greenville, N.C.; Joseph, of New Bern, N.C.; Peter, of Kingston, N.Y.; Daniel, of East Stroudsburg, Pa.; John, of Middle Island; and Steven, of North Potomac, Md.

Visitation will be held Saturday from 2 until 5 p.m. and 7 until 9 p.m. at the Thomas F. Dalton Funeral Homes Hicksville Chapel with private cremation services on Monday.