Richard, known to many as Dick, was born in 1922, in San Pedro, CA, as the second of two children to Earl and Lillian Dierks. He died peacefully with his family by his side on November 19, 2011. Dick grew up in San Pedro, CA destined to be an engineer from the start by his innate desire to explore, understand, and challenge the unknown.

Growing up during the depression, Dick relied on his hands and mind to fashion the articles of enjoyment around him. As a youth he cleverly built a row boat with scraps from the convertible top of an old car found in a junk yard. Dick further developed his skills to augment and enhance his life experience utilizing his creative talents growing up in southern California. Dick loved to explore his surroundings as a child, including the many local harbors. With a passion for the outdoors, it was only a matter of time before joining the Boy Scouts of America, where he specialized in being able to start a fire in the wilderness without matches. Dick easily mastered all assignments, attaining the designation of Eagle Scout, the highest honor in scouting.

Dick attended the University of Southern California, graduating in 1944 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering. During his college years, he was an avid fan of ballroom dancing and attended many a dance across the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Yearning to do his part and serve his country, Dick joined the U.S. Merchant Marines and traveled the South Pacific, serving aboard the Arcadia Victory and the America. As WWII drew to a close, he was discharged in 1946 and returning to San Pedro, triggering his search for a location to launch his Engineering career. Dick responded to the call for engineers by General Electric for relocation to Hanford Washington - home of the first nuclear weapons reactor. An accomplished engineer, he earned his Professional Engineer's certificate in 1963. In 1951 Dick was introduced to and later married Virginia Tajkowski, of Schenectady, NY. Dick and Virginia settled in the south end of Richland Washington, where for a time, they had nothing but desert and sagebrush beyond their back door - stretching all the way to the Yakima River. Building on his sense of industrious self reliance, Dick designed and built an expansion to the family house which included adding an emergency bomb shelter and basement. The addition more than doubled the overall living area of the home. Dick and Virginia proudly raised four sons who attained degrees from Washington State University and the University of Washington. Dick, aided by his family, pioneered cultivation of wine grapes and desert farming which included a tree farm on 40 acres outside West Richland.

As the lead designer, Dick was instrumental in development and testing of ground breaking nuclear waste vitrification technology. His prototype system successfully demonstrated the ability to mix radioactive waste with melted glass and inject the radioactive waste glass into large protective cylinders for safe long term storage and burial. This technology which was first demonstrated at Battelle was subsequently adopted for use at the Savannah River Georgia nuclear site. Dick was known for his work in radioactive waste management in both domestic and foreign communities.

Dick continued his love of the outdoors making steadfast friends with several colleagues, embarking on numerous fishing, hunting and camping trips. Later, as his boys grew up, he shared this enthusiasm with them by leading them on numerous fishing and hiking trips into the mountains in Washington and Oregon. His favorite locations were the Cascade Mountains for hiking and hunting and the Potholes lakes in central Washington for fishing. The Blue Mountains in Oregon is where he loved to take his boys mushroom hunting in search of the much coveted Morel mushroom in the late spring. In retirement, Dick could often be found implementing his latest design changes to his ever evolving gold separation machines or just sitting by the fire with a good book.

Dick was a true gentleman, a compassionate and caring husband, father, and Samaritan. Dick will be missed by all who had the pleasure to know him. He is survived by his sons Richard, Jr., Mark, Brian and Quentin, daughter-in-law Marie, daughter-in-law Melissa, daughter-in-law Sandra, and grandchildren Kayla, Cassandra, Luke and Jack. The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, you honor Dick by contributing to the neurological charity of your choice. A celebration of Dick's life will be held on Nov 22 at 10:00 AM at the Memories at Sunset Event Center, 915 By Pass Hwy, Richland, WA 99352.