Richard Francis Emperor, Jr. Born: August 28, 1904
Died: June 1, 2004
Married: Bertha Grace Brown Emperor
Children: Barbara A. Capozzella and Richard F. Emperor III
Richard Francis Emperor, Jr., known as Dick, was a resident of Saranac Lake on and off in the 1920s and in 1930 he became a full-time resident, until a few years before his death. As a youth and a young man he worked in a lumber camp and as a chauffer, drug store clerk, National Army Store clerk, head bartender at the Hotel Saranac and guide. From 1942 until his retirement in 1969, he was a conservation law enforcement officer for Region 5 of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
His ashes were interred at St. Bernard's Cemetery.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, June 10, 2004
Richard "Dick" Francis Emperor Jr.,
SARANAC LAKE - Richard "Dick" Francis Emperor Jr., 99, died on Tuesday, June 1, 2004 at the Hildebrand Care Center in Canon City, Colo.
He was born on Aug. 28, 1904 in Pittsfield, Mass., the son of Richard Francis and Lucy Miner (nee Goddeau) Emperor.
Dick was a resident of Saranac Lake on and off in the 1920s and in 1930 he became a full-time resident until the infirmities of age along with the need for more care led to the move west to the care center in Colorado. He went to Colorado in June 2001 to live with his daughter and son-in-law, Barbara and Vincent Capozzella.
Dick's father died just before his birth and the family moved to Cadyville to the home of his maternal grandmother. His mother moved to Saranac Lake for work in the post-World War I era. He attended elementary school in Cadyville and later, in his twenties, attended electrical school in Chicago. As a youth and young man, Dick had a variety of work experiences mostly in the Saranac lake area, including works at a lumber camp and as a chauffer, drug store clerk, National Army Store clerk, head bartender at the Hotel Saranac and guide.
From 1942 until his retirement in 1969, he was best remembered for his work as conservation law enforcement officer for Region 5, of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. He brought his great love of hunting, fishing and guiding to this work and treated all fairly. His job entailed chasing down poachers, checking traps and performing hundreds of other tasks over a 400-mile area. He was quite grateful that among those attending his retirement party in 1969 were several of the so-called outlaws, several of whom he had cited for various violations in the course of his law enforcement career.
He continued to hunt and fish and get out in the wilderness well into his ninth decade and was honored in 2000 by an international conservation law enforcement group at a ceremony in Albany for being the oldest conservation officer in his division. A farewell party held at the DEC headquarters in Ray Brook just prior to his relocation to Colorado attended by many, made the move west easier for him.
He is survived by a daughter, Barbara A. Capozzella and her husband Vincent of Canon City, Colo.; a son, Richard F. Emperor III of Montreal, Quebec, Canada; three grandchildren; Dana Marie Capozzella-Utter and her husband Robert, of Colorado Springs, Colo., Lt. Col. Robert Joseph Capozzella USAF, NATO and his wife Tracy and Michael Richard Capozzella of Denver, Colo.; five great-grandchildren; two sisters-in-law, Mrs. Julia B. Brown of Ashville, N.C. and Mrs. Helen Winch of Saranac Lake; one niece; and many cousins.
He was predeceased by his wife of 61 years, Bertha Grace Emperor (nee Brown) in 1998 and two sisters: Helen E. Lyons (James A.) in 1993 and Esther E. Scott (Richard V.) in 1987.
There will be no calling hours. A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday; June 26 at St. Bernard's Roman Catholic Church followed by internment of ashes at St. Bernard's Cemetery in Saranac Lake. A reception win be held at the Hotel Saranac in Saranac Lake for those wishing to reminisce about the long, long life of this former village old timer. All local arrangements are with the Fortune-Keough Funeral Home in Saranac Lake,
Richard Emperor was once interviewed by Phil Gallos. His mother, who "moved to Saranac Lake for work in the post-World War I era," lived at 16 Jenkins Street. He remembered putting "windows around the veranda . . . when his mother decided to take a boarder sixty years ago."
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A photo of Dick Emperor provided by Environmental Conservation Officer Jim Cranker was published in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise on May 20, 2017. Dated circa 1940s, it shows a young game protector Dick Emperor field-testing "the latest technology," a very large "portable radio."
