Dorinda Medley’s Late Husband Richard: When Did He Die?

Instagram Dorinda Medley's late husband Richard died in 2011 after a "short illness" led to liver failure. Medley and Richard had been married for 6 years at the time of his death.

Dorinda Medley, star of the reality television series Real Housewives of New York City, unexpectedly lost her husband Richard Medley in 2011. Although Medley had attempted to be private about her late husband’s cause of death, the Washington Post reported that he died due to liver failure after a “short illness.”

Only 60-years-old at the time of his death, Richard had been hospitalized at New York Presbyterian Medical Center during his illness, according to Radar Online. The couple was married for six years after Medley moved back to New York City.

Hailing from Rochester, NY, Richard served in the U.S. Air Force from 1970 to 1973. He graduated from Ohio State University in 1975 with a bachelors degree in political science. He later acquired his doctorate in the same field from Yale, according to Earn The Necklace..

Medley, a successful real estate broker and socialite, met her late husband when she sold him a townhouse, according to her Bravo bio. Richard was a hedge fund adviser at George Soros and the chief economist for the US House Banking Committee. Together, the couple worked on fundraising for a variety of causes with different celebrities and politicians, including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Hillary Clinton.

Richard was also a former Capitol Hill aide and speechwriter, according to ENT. He was chief of staff for the Democratic leadership in the U.S. Senate when he worked for Congress, and in 1984, he was the speechwriter of vice presidential candidate, Geraldine Ferraro. Medley is known for being more vocal about politics on RHONY compared to the other ladies on the show, and she credits Richard’s “staunch Democratic leanings,” for her outspoken attitude, according to ETN.

Medley and Richard married in 2005, and had a small, intimate ceremony that had a 50s theme and was held at the Four Seasons hotel. According to the New York Magazine profile on their wedding, they turned the venue into an aquarium “with multicolored koi in glass bowls as centerpieces, acrylic tables with small streams running between them, and lighting that cast aquamarine shadows across the draped-chain curtains.” They even had cigarette girls and candy stripers to serve their guests.

Although Medley wasn’t very vocal about Richard’s cause of death, or the illness that took his life, she has spoken about her deceased husband often in the past. “Richard was the love of Dorinda’s life, and his death hit her very, very hard,” Radar reports. “Richard will always be the love of her life.”

The Real Housewives of New York airs on Wednesday nights at 9/8c on Bravo. Tune in to follow Medley and the rest of the RHONY ladies.

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