In Memoriam- Richard B. Erickson, FAICP
Statement by former Executive Director Jim Butler
29 September 2025
To the SECOG Board,
It is with profound sadness that I recently received the news of the passing of Dick Erickson at age 93. Dick was more than my predecessor as Executive Director of the COG; he was one of my first bosses in planning, a mentor, a role model, an inspiration, and a friend. He positively influenced a generation of planners and other municipal officials and was affectionately referred to as “the godfather of planning” in southeastern Connecticut.
Richard B. Erickson graduated from Clark University with both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Geography. In between earning those degrees, he served in the Intelligence branch of the U.S. Army. His first planning job was as an Assistant Planner in Cape May County, NJ. In October 1961, Erickson was appointed the first Executive Director of the fledgling Southeastern CT Regional Planning Agency (SCRPA).
At the time of Dick’s arrival in southeastern CT, only two municipalities in the region employed full-time planners and many towns had not yet adopted zoning. The concept of regionalism was still new and somewhat foreign to local elected leaders, but a stagnant economy and lack of local financial resources provided fertile ground for Erickson and the SCRPA to sell the idea of towns working together for a common cause. When Dick started at SCRPA he was the only employee of the thirteen-town regional agency. He quickly became successful in obtaining state and federal funding, gradually hired staff, and additional towns in the region joined the regional agency; however, there was still a sense of home rule first in the region and throughout the state. In a column published in The Day newspaper upon his retirement in 1998, the writer noted that Erickson was not one to “rock the boat” and quoted him as saying “I was born in New England, and keenly aware that hometown prerogatives were dear to the hearts of everyone. This thought tempered my expectations.” His results surely exceeded those expectations as he was instrumental in the formation of numerous regional agencies and institutions including the Southeastern CT Water Authority, the Southeast Area Transit, the regional Tourism District, the Southeastern CT Regional Resource Recovery Authority, Mohegan Community College, and the Area Agency on Aging among others.
In the late 1980s, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the region’s defense-oriented economy was in jeopardy as the federal government announced plans to close the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, United Nuclear Corporation in Montville was shuttered, and the future of Electric Boat and the SUBASE was uncertain. Erickson and SCRPA played an important role in reacting quickly to these threats to southeastern Connecticut’s economic health, rallying municipal officials and business leaders to participate in a region-wide economic development effort, resulting in the 1992 Strategic Plan for Economic Development/A Plan for Action prepared by the nationally known consultant A.D. Little. This study made recommendations for the diversification of the region’s economy to face these challenges, two of the most significant of which were to transform the RPA to a Council of Governments (COG) and to merge two smaller regional economic agencies into what is now the region’s federally recognized economic development organization, the Southeastern CT Enterprise Region (seCTer).
In 1993, the municipalities in the region adopted local ordinances to transform the RPA into today’s Southeastern CT Council of Governments. Dick Erickson was retained as Executive Director, a post he held until his retirement. His visionary leadership and sound presentation of the facts convinced municipal leaders that an agency with Chief Elected Officials serving on the board of directors could be more effective and have a greater impact on the region than one which was limited to the recommendations that could be made by the representatives of local planning boards. He had the foresight to convince the COG’s new board of the wisdom of inviting the Chairmen of the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Tribes as well as the CO of the SUBASE and Superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy to join the COG as affiliate non-voting members. With the advent of the COG, new funding sources and initiatives became available that would assist member municipalities in providing services to their residents. While transportation and land use planning remained a staple of the COG’s work program, it was now able to address such diverse issues as emergency management, resiliency and hazard mitigation planning, sharing of municipal services, defense community coordination, town planner and code enforcement services, social service agency collaboration, law enforcement grant assistance, brownfield remediation, solid waste planning, utilities and water resources planning, and training for local officials on a variety of subjects.
After his retirement, Dick stayed busy serving on several boards and agencies including seCTer which he chaired, the Eastern CT Workforce Investment Board (EWIB), as well as performing volunteer work such as at his hometown Otis Library. He continued to work professionally as a planning consultant, and in 2002, he authored the landmark affordable housing study Housing a Region in Transition for the COG, which won an award from the Connecticut Chapter of the American Planning Association. In 2005, he was a key member of the region’s committee that successfully convinced the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) not to close the SUBASE. In 2012, Erickson was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners (FAICP), the highest award given by that organization to its members. Fellows of AICP are nominated and selected by their peers to recognize and honor their outstanding contributions as professional planners. I had the honor of joining several other long-time planners in the region in nominating Dick for this award. Criteria for selection as stated on the AICP College of Fellows website states:
“The outcomes of their individual efforts left demonstrably significant and transformational improvements to the field of planning and the communities they served. All Fellows are long-time members of AICP and have achieved excellence in professional practice, teaching and mentoring, research, and community service and leadership. The College actively encourages Fellows and others to participate in programs and initiatives in the service of communities and the planning profession, including mentoring the next generation of planners; volunteering expertise to underserved communities; leading initiatives within APA chapters and divisions; and sharing knowledge with the planning community, allied professionals, and the wider public.”
Dick Erickson did all of that and then some. While Dick was a humble and quiet man who never sought personal recognition, it is fitting that this professional honor was bestowed upon this giant of planning in southeastern Connecticut and it pays lasting tribute to all he contributed to our region.
Sincerely,
James S. Butler, AICP
Retired Executive Director, SECOG