Richard Stockton Gaines

Richard Stockton Gaines, a resident of Pacific Palisades died of cancer at St. John’s Hospital, Santa Monica, on Oct. 9, 2015. He was 81 years old.

Stockton was born in Trenton, New Jersey on Aug. 2, 1934. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, and served as an officer in the Navy. He received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University in 1969.

Stockton worked for the Institute for Defense Analyses in Princeton until joining the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica in 1974. At RAND, he co-authored a seminal 1977 memo on the design of a new email system (MH) capitalizing on the features of the UNIX operating system. He later directed a research program at the Information Sciences Institute at USC.

Stockton’s industry work has included consulting on general corporate issues, strategic planning and management of specific hardware and software projects for numerous high technology companies such as IBM, EMC, Storage Technology, Silicon Graphics, Honeywell, Unisys, Olivetti, Control Data, Philips Data Systems and Northrop, among many others.

He has also consulted to a number of venture capital companies including Paragon Venture Partners and Brentwood Associates.

In 1998, Stockton, together with three colleagues, founded Acorn Technologies, Inc., an Intellectual Property Research and Development Company with fundamental technologies for the Semiconductor and Telecom Industry. The company has a very large patent portfolio, several created by Dr. Gaines. He is sadly missed by his colleagues at Acorn.

Stockton was a long-time, enthusiastic member of the Palisades Rotary Club and president of his homeowners’ association.

Stockton is survived by Lynn, his devoted wife of 56 years; his son William Stockton Gaines; and grandchildren Benjamin Stockton and Katrin Terese Gaines, all of San Luis Obispo; sisters Katherine Bolman of Honolulu, Hawaii and Julia Gaines of Atlanta, Georgia; and brother Andrew Gaines of Leura, Australia; as well as five nieces, a grandniece and a grandnephew.

A memorial will be held on Nov. 21 at 2 p.m. in Janes Hall at the Presbyterian Church in Pacific Palisades. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the John Wayne Cancer Institute, 2200 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90404.