Holmes graduated from East Haven High and attended the University of New Haven and Shepherd College as a two-sport athlete — baseball football — and scholar. He worked as a teacher in Virginia before moving back to Connecticut to work as a teacher and coach at Notre Dame of Fairfield.

He first worked in the Danbury Public Schools at Broadview Middle School in 1993 before moving to Danbury High as a social studies teacher and multisport coach.

“Richard had been ill for a couple weeks,” Danbury Athletic Director Chip Salvestrini said. “He was a big part of the athletic program, including as an offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for the football team. He was also the football historian for Danbury football team.

“He kept track of football records and became our football guru. The booster club would put together a program, and he would include updated football records. The kids and parents always looked forward to that part of the program.”

Holmes coached baseball and football at various levels throughout his career.

He was head football coach at Notre Dame-Fairfield from 1988 to 1991 and baseball coach from 1989 to 1992. Holmes was an offensive line coach for Danbury High football from 1993 to 1997 and then became head football coach at Sacred Heart in Waterbury from 1998 to 1999. He returned to Danbury High as the football offensive coordinator from 2001 to 2008 and was head coach at Abbott Tech/Immaculate from 2013 to 2020.

His son, Kevin, said he rarely saw his dad in his early childhood, because he put in so much time and effort into his coaching and teaching responsibilities. It was on the football field where Kevin Holmes said he began to bond with his dad.

“As a kid growing up, sometimes all that energy he put into his teaching and coaching made me feel detached in a way,” Kevin Holmes said. “That really began to change once I had the opportunity to play for him on the football field and actually take his first period U.S. history class.

“Objectively, he was fantastic at both. He could reach kids in ways that most people can’t, and artfully do it all while being serious when needed, funny when needed, and corny all the time,” his son said. 

“The football field is really where we began to bond. At that time, we not only lived together and saw each other during the school day, I also spent hours every day learning and growing as a son and as a man as his player,” Kevin Holmes said. “My favorite times during those days were our 1-on-1 time grading film.”

Danbury High Principal Dan Donovan said he coached with Richard Holmes with the Danbury football team and knew him for years.

“When it came to coaching baseball and football, Richard had a great schematic mind,” Donovan said. “He had a cool way about him and got along with all the kids. He was a great listener. If he knew you had a problem, he would come to you and listen and would come up with a solution to make things better.

“That made him a good coach and his connection with the kids is what made him a great teacher,” Donovan said of Richard Holmes. “Everything he did on the field and in the classroom, he did for the kids. He was going to retire from teaching after this school year and submitted his retirement papers in April. He was really excited to start that part of his life, to spend more time with his family, especially his grandchildren.”

In addition to coaching with Richard Holmes, Danbury baseball coach Shaun Ratchford and Holmes ran a Fun and Fundamental Baseball Camp for boys and girls ages 6 to 12. Ratchford said they knew each other for 28 years.

“Up until three or four weeks ago, we were planning this year’s camp,” Ratchford said. “Richard ran the business and administrative side of the camp. He was a teacher who coached, and what made him a strong coach also made him a strong teacher. He was more than just Xs and Os. He would always do what he could to make you a better person, whether you were a player or coach or co-worker.

“His passing is a real shock.”

Richard Holmes was also known for his love of the New York Mets and Green Bay Packers, and for attending local games of all sorts, enjoying Broadway shows and musicals, and debating history and politics with anyone who would take him on, his family said. 

“Thankfully, we were able to reconnect once again when my dad became the head football coach at Abbott Tech,” Kevin Holmes said. “He told me there was no one else he would rather coach with or trusted more, and I felt the same.

“I coached with him for five years and got to see the other side of his work as a coach, including all the aspects that go into making a program run and be successful,” his son said.

 “I wish he got to know how much of an impact he had on me as a son, let alone the impact he had on the community as a whole,” he said. “He was such an intelligent, thoughtful, caring albeit stubborn, man who made the world a significantly better place. I love you dad, we all did.”

Richard Holmes is survived by his partner, Lori Amann; his mother, Maria Holmes; his son Kevin and his wife Ana, and their three children; his daughter Julie and her husband Jonantonio, and their two children; and his brother Steven and his partner Nathan.

The family requested that memorial donations be made to Danbury High School athletics.

A memorial gathering for Richard Holmes will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 17, at Green Funeral Home, 57 Main St., Danbury.