Richard Allen Chilgren was born in Eau Claire Wisconsin on February 4, 1937. It was there that he attended grade school and high school. Through high school he worked summers as an announcer at Tommy Bartlett water-ski shows in Wisconsin Dells.
After high school graduation, Rick attended St Olaf college in Northfield Minnesota, majoring in pre-med, and worked as a bus and train Tour Escort to New York City and Colorado during summer vacations. He met his wife, Karin Strolberg, in his senior year, 1958, and they were married in August 1959.
They moved to Madison Wisconsin for medical school and he graduated there in 1963. They moved to Minneapolis and Rick began internship at the University of MInnesota Medical School in 1964. Rick continued at U of M for Residency in Pediatrics.
He became Coordinator for Med School's Curriculum Committee and through that position, was introduced to the Sexual Attitude Reassessment (SAR) process that was being tested by clergy from American Lutheran Church and the United Theological Seminary.
In 1970, Rick was appointed to be the first Director of the Program in Human Sexuality at the University of Minnesota Medical School, where he initiated many innovative and progressive ideas, dealt with political finesse against a barrage of opposition and difficult situations regarding the concept of the Program and its aims from within and without the University, gained foundational funding and support and kept the enterprise afloat with the help of many many dedicated members of the staff and friends from the community.
Rick and Karin divorced in 1971 and he never remarried. He purchased a large mansion on Summit Avenue in St. Paul, and shared the residence with a group of friends and colleagues for a few years.
Rick left the Program in 1976 and shortly thereafter moved to live permanently in Hawaii. In Hawaii, he worked for several years as the resident MD on a cruise ship that traversed the islands.
He retired from that job after injuring his back, and spent his remaining years convalescing and writing, never giving up on his dreams of creating a worldwide network of sexual health and alternative medicine initiatives.
He died on July 17, 2011, of cancer. He is survived by his brother, Paul Chilgren, and numerous cousins and relatives.