Richard “Dick” Warner Carlson’s life began in hardship and ended in a kind of hard-won peace. Abandoned as an infant to a Boston orphanage by a frightened, 15-year-old Swedish-speaking mother, he cycled through foster homes before finally being adopted. Expelled from school at 17, he joined the Marines, then clawed his way into journalism, foreign service, and the upper reaches of Washington power. Yet those who knew him best describe not a climber, but a reader, a skeptic, a man who carried an “outlaw spirit” softened by decency and faith.As a single father, he hauled his sons along on reporting trips and turned dinner into a nightly seminar on revolutions, literature, and the unchanging nature of human beings. His second marriage to Patricia Swanson brought four decades of joy; her death left a wound he carried to the end. Surrounded by his children, his beloved dogs nearby, he chose clarity over comfort in his final weeks. The man who began life unwanted left it fully loved, his legacy etched into the family and stories he leaves behind.
Keeping Tucker Carlson in our thoughts during this difficult time
