Richard D. Batchelder, Jr.

Board of Governors Member since 2021

Richard Batchelder is a Senior Counsel at Ropes & Gray in Boston, following a 30-year career as a partner in the litigation department. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Cornell Law School.

 

Richard has many passions outside of work, including in particular theatre, history, and genealogy.  He won a Tony Award in 2021 for co-producing The Inheritance, and is co-producer of two Broadway shows this season, The Kite Runner and The Piano Lesson, starring Samuel L. Jackson.  He is also co-producer of the new Museum of Broadway, which opens in November, and co-Executive Producer of the feature film Lilly, on the life of Fair Pay Act icon Lilly Ledbetter.

Richard has extensive experience as a nonprofit trustee and volunteer.  He is currently on the board of the USS Constitution Museum and Revolutionary Spaces (operator of the Old State House and Old South Meeting House in Boston).  He is also a Councilor of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, on the Advisory Council of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and a Proprietor of the Boston Athenaeum.  Richard also enjoys club life, and is president of the Somerset Club in Boston.  A lifelong sailor, Richard is a former Commodore of the Stage Harbor Yacht Club in Chatham, Massachusetts and a member of the New York Yacht Club.

Richard first became interested in Shakespeare when he visited Stratford-upon-Avon with his family at age seven.  His favorite play is Henry V, and his family motto – sequere spiritum tuum – comes from the end of the King’s speech before Harfleur: “The game’s afoot: Follow your spirit, and upon this charge Cry ‘God for Harry, England, and Saint George!” (Act 3, Scene 1).

Richard is a direct descendant of Peter Folger, Henry Clay Folger’s forebear, and several of Richard’s ancestors were characters in the history plays, including his 18^th great-grandfather Sir Walter Blount (“Sir Walter Blunt” in Henry IV, pt. 1), his 27^th and 28^th great-grandfathers Malcolm and Duncan from Macbeth, and several characters in King John, including his 25^th great-grandfather, King John.

Richard and his wife Peggy live in Boston and Chatham, and have two sons, Teddy and Will, who both work in Boston.