The Fresno State community is grieving the death of Janiece “Jan” Elaine Richter, who founded the Jan and Bud Richter Center for Community Engagement and Service-Learning alongside her husband, Elmer “Bud” Richter in 2007. She died on June 10 after nearly a lifetime of dedication to the university.
On Aug. 7, Jan Richter’s birthday, President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval and his office held a flag-lowering ceremony at the Veterans Monument near the Frank W. Thomas Building on campus in remembrance of Jan Richter and her contributions. The flag will remain at half-staff for the rest of the day.
“I think it’s important to commemorate [Jan Richter] and honor her in such a deep way, but more than anything, to really establish a model for the rest of us as well,” Jiménez-Sandoval said in an interview with The Collegian. “She was a model human being.”
As of this year, the Richter Center has facilitated approximately 1.6 million hours of community service.
“She believed that if students were able to get hands-on experience outside of the classroom in what they were learning in the classroom, that something would click inside of them and they would find their lifelong passion for service,” Jiménez-Sandoval said. “And that’s exactly what happened.”
Chris Fiorentino, director of the Richter Center, first met the Richters in 2007, when the organization was first established. In those 18 years, Fiorentino watched as Fresno State grew with the Richters’ support.
“We say we have a culture of service at Fresno State that’s second to none, and I think that Jan and Bud are a major reason that that’s true,” Fiorentino said.
Fiorentino described Jan Richter as “the humorous side to [Bud Richter’s] business side” as he began to list the Richters’ other on-campus accomplishments, which include their establishment of the Richter Awards of Excellence in Education at the Kremen School of Education and Human Development.
Other of their achievements include planning the Teachers Honor Wall and their service as co-chairs during the silent phase for Fresno State’s fîrst Comprehensive Campaign from 2005-13, which raised $214 million for the university.
The Richters also received several accolades for their work, two being the Fresno State Foundation Award for service and the Fresno State Alumni Association’s Arthur Safstrom Service Award.
Bud Richter died in 2021, and Fiorentino said that he believes Jan Richter missed him dearly and was “biding her time until it was her time to go.”
“I was walking on campus this morning and thinking about Bud and Jan, and you know, got a little tight in the throat,” Fiorentino said. “But, at the same time, they’re back together in heaven and that’s what they always wanted.”
Mellissa Jessen-Hiser, interim director of the Richter Center, also worked closely with the Richters after getting hired in 2008.
“I thought [Jan Richter] was so witty and so smart, and just [had] a really great sense of humor,” Jessen-Hiser said.
Jessen-Hiser first met Richter at a dinner hosted by Fiorentino. She remembers Fiorentino’s children, who were young at the time, talking to Jan Richter and them acting “mischievous” together.
“I didn’t know what to expect going into meeting them, and I myself was really nervous, but right away, just her demeanor and Bud’s too put me at ease,” Jessen-Hiser said. “I think it’s easy to think of folks who reach a certain level of success as being intimidating or difficult to talk to, but I never felt that way with them.”
Jessen-Hiser said that she can’t imagine a version of Fresno State without the Richters’ impact.
“I really feel like the legacy of Jan and Bud is going to continue on forever, in every moment,” she said. “Every time a student tutors a child and that child learns a new cite word and they feel proud of themselves—each one of those moments is going to add up to so much.”
The Richters’ granddaughter, Renee Vandermeer, attended the flag-lowering ceremony. To her, the Richters were simply grandma and grandpa.
“[Jan Richter] loved to come pick me up, and we would go to lunch,” Vandermeer said. “She was just very spunky, and she always wanted to spend time, when she could, with me.”
Vandermeer reminisced on going to the beach with Jan Richter as a child and the sweet feeling of being taken care of.
“Those are probably my best memories, is being with her and growing up with her and spending that time with her at the beach,” Vandermeer said.
Vandermeer explained that her comprehension of her grandparents’ presence at Fresno State came with age and maturity.
“They’re pretty important, you know, but as a kid growing up, it was like, they’re helping me with my spelling words,” she said.
With Jan Richter’s birthday in mind, Vandermeer explained that, each year on Vandermeer’s birthday, her grandparents would call her and sing to her through the phone.
“I knew every year on my birthday when the phone rang, and I answered it, they were singing,” Vandermeer said.
A community gem and a piece of Fresno State’s foundation, Jan Richter is missed by staff, faculty and family, on and off campus.
