Richard Joseph Potter Jr., born August 13, 1951, in Dallas, Texas, passed away on May 4, 2026, at the age of 74.

A fourth-generation Dallas native and sixth-generation Texan, Richard grew up in Dallas and attended St. Mark's School of Texas, Highland Park High School, and Southern Methodist University.

Richard began his career through a variety of entrepreneurial ventures in Dallas. He was one of the original investors in Eight-O Corporation, a Dallas restaurant and nightclub group that helped define part of the city's dining and entertainment scene during the 1980s. The company developed several notable venues, including 8.0 Bar, Nostromo, Palermo, Mexico, Rocco Oyster Bar, The Rio Room, and Tango.

In 1982, Richard founded Cinema Billboards, Inc., an early projected billboard advertising company that used rotating projected advertisements years before digital billboard technology became widespread. He owned Skylight Helicopters, a helicopter touring and aerial advertising business featured in the Dallas Morning News. Throughout his career, he was also involved in property management, oil investments, and exotic automobile sales through his company, Motor Cars Limited. Richard was also an initial investor in Texarome, a South Texas cedar oil refinery and essential oils venture that produced cedar oil and oils distilled from native grasses for use in fragrances, soaps, and related products.

Later in life, Richard returned to his family's roots by reopening Potter Art Metal Studios, the ornamental metalwork business founded in Dallas in the early 1920s by his grandfather, Henry Cornwell Potter. Raised around the shop on Henderson Avenue, Richard learned the craft from an early age and continued the family tradition of designing and handcrafting ornamental metalwork.

What began as Henry Potter's lantern-making hobby in his garage grew into one of the Southwest's best-known ornamental metal studios, creating custom iron, bronze, brass, and aluminum work for homes, churches, landmarks, and historic properties across Texas and the United States. Potter Art Metal Studios' work appeared across Dallas, including Fair Park, White Rock Lake, Highland Park Village, and numerous historic homes and churches. Richard also worked to preserve and restore many of his grandfather's historic pieces. The Potter Art Metal Studios collection of more than 1,700 shop drawings is archived within SMU's Bywaters Special Collections, documenting the family's contribution to Dallas architecture and design history.

Richard enjoyed flying, automobiles, motorcycles, music, travel, and time with family and friends. He was the father of triplets and a grandfather.

He was preceded in death by his father, Richard Joseph Potter Sr.; his mother, Sarah (Hawley) Potter; his sister, Regina Josephine Potter; and his sister, Sarah "Gigi" (Potter) Salley.

Richard is survived by his wife, Lisa (Lowe) Potter; his former wife, Debbie (Thackston) Potter; and their triplets, Richard Joseph Potter III, John Baron Potter, and Sabra (Potter) Roesink; his son-in-law, Gregg Roesink; his grandson, Grayson Thackston Roesink; and his aunt, Eva Jane (Potter) Morgan.