Remembering An Unsung Hero of Ufology
Richard (Dick) H. Ruhl
Richard (Dick) H. Ruhl Passes at Age 91
February 26, 1931 – April 6, 2022
At age 8, Richard knew he wanted to be an artist. He attended the School of Industrial Arts, Pratt Institute and the School of Visual Arts. He went on to become an award-winning photo-retouching specialist who ran his own studio and worked for some of the biggest agencies on Madison Avenue.
His nature photography hobby led to many Art Gallery showings and awards as well. Utilizing his life-drawing, and illustration skills, he worked closely with the Nassau/Suffolk County Police Department as a volunteer Police artist. The infamous “Son of Sam” terror spree was one of the many cases he worked on with police.
Then one night, in the early 1960’s, upon returning late to his home in Massapequa, Long Island, Dick saw something in the sky that would change his life forever. A huge black object swooped down over his house and continued slowly moving down the street away from him.
Having not given any attention to the “Flying Saucer frenzy” that was in all the newspapers at the time, Dick was shocked and couldn’t believe what he was seeing. At that moment he became determined to find out everything he could about UFOs.
With that, he became a field investigator for the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (A.P.R.O.) and his caseload took him from one end of Long Island to the other. His no-nonsense approach to investigating UFO reports quickly made him one of A.P.R.O.’s most trusted team members and a consultant to Jim and Coral Lorenzen, the founders of A.P.R.O. With his background in art, photography and retouching, he was often called upon to evaluate UFO photo cases for them.
Dick’s most famous investigation was the Freeport Long Island sighting that involved multiple police officers observing and following a huge, pulsating lighted object in the sky.
As they watched the large object suddenly stood still and a smaller, glowing object appeared and merged with the larger one. At that point, the object shot away at incredible speed and disappeared.
The next day, a 30-foot circle of flattened grass laying in a clockwise position was discovered by a police helicopter while paroling the same area. His close working relationship with the local police department allowed him to interview all the key witnesses within 24 hours of their sighting and later explore the possible landing zone.
Dick worked tirelessly promoting Ufology with his many slide-show talks and lectures at libraries, civic organizations, schools and colleges. He was a regular UFO guest expert on WBAB FM radio, hosted by Joel Martin. Ruhl also scheduled guests for Martin such as John Keel and local UFO witnesses.
Many of Dick’s articles appeared in Official UFO Magazine and the A.P.R.O. Bulletin. He also served as an advisor to Harry Lebelson, who wrote the UFO column for OMNI magazine. Dick’s “A History of A.P.R.O.” article was adapted by the Lorenzens and used to recruit new investigators to A.P.R.O.
As to what UFOs are, Dick was very open-minded to different theories. He believed that a great number of sightings could be secret government devices. But, in cases that had paranormal overtones, he felt that there might be a demonic component involved. He was a very religious person and had extensively studied Biblical prophecy with his father.
To people who knew Dick, he was a warm and kind person who always had time to help you out any way he could. He was deeply devoted to his family. He is survived by his daughter Kim and his son Glenn. Dick was predeceased by his wife Lois, who he shared many happy years with. They also, consequently, shared four UFO sightings together.
-Remembered by Bernard O’Connor
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Definitely my kind of a UFO researcher. RIP.