The world lost one of its most remarkable survivors on March 24, 2025, when Richard Warner Carlson passed away at 84 in his Boca Grande, Florida home. The former journalist, diplomat, and adventurer died as he lived – with unmedicated clarity, surrounded by family, his dogs at his feet. His son, Tucker Carlson’s poignant obituary revealed an extraordinary American life that began with abandonment and ended with a profound legacy.
Born February 10, 1941, at Massachusetts General Hospital to a teenage Swedish immigrant mother, Richard’s life began with institutionalization at Boston’s Home for Little Wanderers. Malnutrition left him with rickets – his legs permanently bowed – but couldn’t break his spirit. After bouncing between foster homes, he found stability with the Carlson family in Norwood, Massachusetts, until tragedy struck again at 12 when his adoptive father died.
By 17, the rebellious teen had been jailed for car theft, expelled twice from high school, and found salvation in the U.S. Marine Corps. The discipline stuck, but the wanderlust remained. In 1962, he drove cross-country to California, beginning what would become a lifetime of extraordinary journeys.
Carlson’s journalism career read like a thriller novel. After a year as a merchant seaman aboard the SS Washington Bear (transporting cargo through the Orient), he rose from LA Times copy boy to ABC News investigative reporter during America’s most turbulent decade.
His assignments placed him at ground zero of history:
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Nearly killed covering the 1965 Watts riots
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Interviewed cult leader Jim Jones pre-Jonestown
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Knew Patty Hearst during her Symbionese Liberation Army ordeal
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Conversed with Manson Family members and Mafia bosses alike
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Counted Jerry Garcia and philosopher Eric Hoffer as acquaintances
“He didn’t just report on the 60s and 70s – he swam in its deepest, darkest waters,” recalled a former ABC colleague. “Dick had this rare ability to connect with anyone from hippies to hitmen.”
After his first wife abandoned their family in 1975, Carlson became a fiercely devoted single father to Tucker and Buckley. His parenting style was unorthodox but profound:
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Brought his sons on reporting assignments as children
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Conducted nightly “seminar dinners” covering everything from Bolshevik Russia to Wodehouse humor
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Filled their home with thousands of dog-eared books (which he’d read at stoplights)
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Believed “people never fundamentally change” – a lesson drawn from history
“He didn’t give us childhood,” Tucker wrote. “He gave us an education.”
At 38, Carlson found enduring love with Patricia Swanson. Their 44-year marriage ended only with her death in 2023 – a loss he mourned daily until his own passing. His professional second act was equally remarkable:
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1980s: Voice of America director under Reagan
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Early 90s: U.S. Ambassador to Seychelles
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Later led Corporation for Public Broadcasting
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Spent 25 shadowy years consulting in breakaway republics
Friends knew him as the only man who could discuss Somali warlords, Adjaran separatists, and Lebanese billionaires with equal amusement. “Dick operated in places Google Maps doesn’t show,” said a former State Department colleague.
Carlson’s life experiences bred an extraordinary worldview:
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Converted to belief in God through reading and experience
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Maintained weekly father-son lunches for 30 years (always starting with dice games)
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Never used painkillers, even while dying
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Collected strays – both dogs and humans
“He had an outlaw’s spirit with a philosopher’s heart,” Tucker recalled. “The toughest man I ever knew, who cried when his dogs died.”
Richard Carlson leaves behind sons Tucker and Buckley, daughter-in-law Susie, and five grandchildren. His story – from malnourished orphan to globetrotting raconteur – serves as a testament to resilience, intellectual curiosity, and the power of choosing one’s own family.
In his final days, surrounded by loved ones in the Florida home he cherished, the man who’d survived riots, rogue states, and personal tragedies faced death as he’d faced life: clear-eyed, on his own terms, with a well-worn book likely within reach.
Those wishing to honor his memory might consider donations to the Home for Little Wanderers in Boston – the institution that first sheltered an abandoned boy who would become so much more than anyone could have predicted.
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