Richard S. DeCamp ’55

Richard S. DeCamp ’55, of Lexington, Ky.; May 30. He served in the U.S. Army from 1955 to 1957. After his service, he worked for Central Trust Company in Cincinnati from 1957 to 1960 and then went on to work in sales and as the sales manager for WKYT-TV in Lexington. He was the executive director for the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation from 1969 to 1973 and for the Lexington-Fayette County Historic Preservation Commission from 1974 to 1988. He continued his work as the director and preservation officer from 1988 to 1991 for the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Office of Historic Preservation; preservation advisor to the renovation of Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate, from 1991 to 1992; and administrative assistant working on special preservation and housing-related projects for Community Development from 1993 to 1994. He retired from the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government on July 1, 1994, then served on the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council representing the 3rd District from 1997 to 2009. He also served as a board member for the Lexington Public Library, Lexington Convention & Visitors Bureau, Kentucky Humanities Council, Bluegrass Airport, LexArts, Downtown Lexington Corporation, the Town & Gown Commission, and the Henry Clay Memorial Foundation, where he served as president from 2009 to 2011 and then remained an emeritus member. He was a supporter of historic preservation in Lexington and served on the boards of the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation, Kentucky Heritage Council, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Victorian Society in America. He was a board member emeritus for Preservation Kentucky, the executive director emeritus for the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation, and the past president of the Commonwealth Preservation Council. He  published an article entitled “Historic Preservation—Gratz Park, Lexington, KY”  in Antiques Magazine in 1974 and was the author of The Bluegrass of Kentucky: A Glimpse of the Charm of Central Kentucky Architecture, published in 1986. Photographs for the book were done by his wife, Patricia. He is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, two grandchildren, and a sister.