Richard M. Baginski, a Chehalis resident with a background in academia and beekeeping, died Sept. 20 at Puget Sound Care in Olympia. He was 79.
Born Dec. 28, 1944, in Tacoma, he was the son of Herman and Valeria Siemion Baginski. At age 5, he moved with his family to Chehalis, where Herman helped establish Peerless Sausage Company.
Richard attended St. Joseph’s Catholic School and graduated in 1963 from W.F. West High School, where he was an outstanding student and three-sport athlete and voted “All Around” by his senior classmates.
He went on to receive a B.S. degree, cum laude, from Seattle University, a master’s in teaching from Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D in molecular biology from the University of Maryland. He completed post-graduate work in biochemistry and cell biology at the University of California, Davis and Riverside.
He taught scientific subjects at the college level for 32 years, most recently at Solano Community College in California.
During the summers, Richard worked the beekeeping business with his father, whose “Baginski Honey” was sold all around Lewis County. In 2000, Richard retired from teaching, moved to Onalaska and took over the family business, producing around 10,000 pounds of honey per season. Due to health issues, he had to abandon that enterprise after a few years.
Richard loved watching sports on TV, passionately sharing his political views in emails to friends and relatives and reading about quantum physics and other light subjects.
He was preceded in death by his parents and nephew, John Brady Garnett Jr. Survivors include his brother, Jerry, and sisters, Dolores Garnett (John) and Kathleen and Frances Baginski, along with niece Lisa Garnett, nephews Sean, Brian, Devin and Colin Hopps, and several cousins.
At Richard’s request, in lieu of a funeral, Masses will be offered for him at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Chehalis. He will be interred next to his parents at Calvary Cemetery in Tacoma, where his family will hold a graveside service at a later date.
