SANFORD — Richard Perley Whitney died on Oct. 17, 2016, in Portland .

He was born to Perley W.H. and Marion G. (Campbell) Whitney on Oct. 22, 1934, in Sanford. Richard was a 1952 graduate of Sanford High School.

He enlisted in the U. S. Navy in 1953 and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958. Richard served on active duty until 1962 and then in the U.S. Navy Reserve until 1976.

He worked for the Trane Company as a sales engineer (1962-69), and then enrolled at the Andover Newton Theological School, where he was awarded a master of divinity degree in 1974.

As part of his graduate studies, he and his wife and two children spent a year in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), where Richard was a teacher and chaplain at the Chikore Secondary School.

While maintaining a lifelong interest in theology, he then continued to pursue his interest in engineering, eventually establishing his own company, Whitney Engineering, which specialized in geothermal heating and cooling systems. He retired in December 2015.

He is survived by: his two children, Rear Admiral Mark R. Whitney and his wife Lisa, and professor Donna L. Whitney and her husband Marc Hirschmann; three grandchildren, Naomi L. Whitney-Hirschmann and twins John T. and Austin G. Whitney; former wife Linda (Borden) Johnson; brother Donald H. Whitney and wife Joyce; and many cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Richard will be buried at sea following a committal ceremony conducted by the U.S. Navy.