Richard Earnest was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania enjoying a carefree and fruitful 18 years.   He received an appointment from Senator Fulbright to the U. S. Naval Academy directly from high school and graduated with a BS in Engineering and a commission as Ensign in the US Navy in 1964.  During his stay at Annapolis, Richard had the good fortune to play for the national championship in football in the same backfield with Roger Staubach of Dallas Cowboy fame.

As a Naval Officer, Richard became a carrier based fighter pilot during the Vietnam conflict with 320 combat missions to his credit.  During his 9 years in the military, he also received his Master’s degree in Management.

In 1974, Richard entered the business world of high tech and has since run 6 different high tech companies as CEO, taking one public in 1985 and most recently turning around troubled technology firms.  He continues to be active on corporate boards and the Chairman’s Roundtable in San Diego.

Richard and his wife, Jackee, moved to Del Mar from the Washington D.C. area in 1989.  Having moved so much during his adult life, he had a tremendous desire to give back to his community and ran successfully for City Council in 1996. He was re-elected to a second four year term in 2000. He served as Mayor in 1998-1998 and 2003-2004. Richard has chaired and served on a number of local and regional committees since and thoroughly enjoys the process of local government.

After two elected terms on the Del Mar Council, Richard decided not to run again in 2004.  In 2006, Richard ran for the Congressional seat for the 50th Congressional District in San Diego County.  He has since been serving on the Del Mar Foundation and President of the Del Mar Village Association.

On a personal note, he and his wife are “empty nested” now, and enjoy traveling together to new places in the world, especially to northern California where their new grandson lives.  In his spare time, he likes to bike and golf.  His hope for the future is for more time to read and learn to play the blues harmonica.  On a very personal note, Richard has found that giving back is one of the precious joys of life.