Saul Ricklin, Community Leader and Poet Laureate of Bristol, Dies at 93

Saul Ricklin, 93, formerly of Bristol and husband for 65 year of the predeceased Lois (Webster), died on July 29, 2013.

Ricklin leaves behind children Donald and wife, Leona; Leslie and husband, Jeff Wells; Ethan and wife, Susan; and Roger and wife, Donna; grandchildren Ruby Wells and husband, Jeff Schneider; Isaac Wells and wife Jamie; Sam, Julia and Alana; and great grandchildren, Zeppelynne and Benjamin.

Graduate of Columbia University with degrees in Chemical Engineering 1939 and 1940.  Process Engineer at Metal and Thermit Corporation 1940-1946, where he worked on development of incendiary and tracer ammunition with awards from the Naval Bureau of Ordinance and the OSRD.  He served in the Army from 1946-1947.  He was a professor at Brown University Chemistry Department 1947-1954 and owner of Ricklin Research Associates (consultant to industry) from 1954-1959. Joined Dixon Corp. 1959 as R&D Director, retired as Chairman and CEO Dixon Industries and as Managing Director of NTN Rulon in Japan and Dixon Italia in 1981.

He was a Director of Entwistle Corp., EFD Company and ACS Industries.  He served on the Board of Trinity Rep. and on advisory boards at Connecticut College and Roger Williams University.  In Bristol, he was on the Civic Industries Commission, a High School building committee, a Financial Controls committee, a Board member at Rogers Free Library, the YMCA, Historic and Preservation Society, Tree Society and Chairman of the Bristol County Foundation of the Arts.

He was Cofounder of the RI Society for Chemical Engineers and served as Chairman of the Fluorocarbons Division for the Society of Plastics Industries.  He and his wife were world travelers with visits to almost 100 countries.  He was an avid reader, book collector and with his wife, an art collector.  He was the author of many technical articles on the industrial applications of Teflon and lectured on the subject.  In his retirement years he wrote travel and history articles, book reviews, Op Ed pieces and over 400 Letters to the Editor at newspapers and magazines. With weekly poems in the Bristol Phoenix, he was called the Poet Laureate of Bristol.

Contributions in memory of Saul Ricklin may be made to Home and Hospice Care of RI, 1085 North Main St., Providence, RI, 02904, or Rogers Free Library, 525 Hope St., Bristol. 

A Memorial Gathering in celebration of his life will be held at a place and time to be announced.

For more information, visit Saul Ricklin's memorial page provided by Sansone Funeral Home.