Richard Ainsworth (January 31, 1952 - July 31, 2018) died in San Jose, California, of cancer of the esophagus. His daughters Laura and Melissa were with him.

Rich had a double lung transplant about six years ago. He had smoked and worked around diesel vapors on a boat gas dock as a young man. He had been a mailman and bottled water deliveryman but most of his working career was working in the tax assessors office in Ventura County where he bought a home and raised his daughters with his wife Rae. Those were happy years.

Rich played football for South Pasadena High and was a graduate of PCC and Occidental. His majors were Astronomy, French, and Comparative Literature. Due to his extremely high SAT scores he was awarded a full ride state scholarship.

He was preceded in passing by his wife Rae and his brother, Alan Ainsworth '63. Rich is survived by his daughters and his brothers, George Ainsworth '68 and Roy Ainsworth '72. He will be missed by many.

George Ainsworth '68

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Richard Ainsworth, beloved father, widower, and brother, passed away at Stanford Hospital, in Palo Alto on July 31, 2018. Although he was currently residing in San Jose, California, Richard was born on January 31, 1952 in South Pasadena.

In 1967, he met and fell in love with his future wife, Rae Midkiff, and in 1978 they decided to move to beautiful Ventura, California, where he lived until 2014. Here they raised their family of two daughters, Laura and Melissa. Richard worked for the Ventura County Assessor's office for 24 years as an Appraiser until he retired in 2012. Before working at the County Assessor's office, Richard enjoyed a variety of interesting careers that included working as a postal carrier, fuel dock manager at the Ventura Harbor, Arrowhead water salesman, and more. Richard will be remembered as a Renaissance man known for his story-telling and genuine passion and intrigue for all things interesting and his drive to learn everything he could about everything. His interests and hobbies included building and fixing computers, camping, stargazing, listening to his records, watching movies, coin collecting, and gardening. Despite the recent hardships in his life, including the sudden loss of his wife and caregiver, Rae, in 2013, Richard always remained positive and reminded everyone around him how thankful he was to be given the last six years since his double-lung transplant in 2012. Since then, Richard was able to see his daughter, Melissa graduate from college at San Jose State University, and was also able to walk his daughter, Laura Bennett, down the wedding aisle in Santa Barbara. 

Richard is survived by his two daughters, Laura Bennett, and Melissa Ainsworth; and brothers, George Ainsworth (SPHS '68) and Roy Ainsworth (SPHS '72). Richard was preceded in death by his wife, Rae Ainsworth; brother, Alan Ainsworth (SPHS '63); and parents, Richard and Arlene Ainsworth. His sudden death has deeply affected all who knew him and he will be dearly missed.

Ventura County Star, August 12, 2018