Dr. Richard Howard Brooks

Dr. Richard Howard Brooks
July 5, 1926 – June 24, 2011

Dr. Richard H. Brooks was born July 5, 1926 to Richard and Enid Brooks in Big Pine, CA. At 15 he joined the Navy, after serving he returned to school, married Dr. Sheilagh Brooks-Physical Anthropologist and eventually received his PhD in archaeology from the University of Colorado, Boulder.  While studying and conducting archaeological work in Oakland, CA they had their first daughter Kathleen. He was conducting research in Mexico when their second daughter Carolyn was born, now deceased. Eventually, they settled in Las Vegas working at UNLV. He has many notable contributions to the field of Archeology in Nevada and across the country.  He co-founded Archeo-Nevada in Las Vegas and the Nevada Archeological Association. As a professor and researcher at UNLV  then Director of the Desert Research Institute, he pioneered the creation of the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History where he served as Director.

He worked many archaeological sites including Tule Springs in Clark County and in Lincoln County, Nevada; Mesa Verde and Boulder, Colorado; Mexico and Borneo. He is called a founding father of the field and beloved by his students, training hundreds of aspiring archaeological minds.  He loved travel, research, the desert, camping, his family, helping others less fortunate.

In his later years he cared for his wife until her death and promoted her life’s work.  He is survived by his daughter Kathleen Brooks and granddaughters Sheilagh Polk and Genevieve Brooks-Harris.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the Native American Scholarship fund at Crow Canyon Archeology Camp in the name of Dr. Richard Brooks. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center 23390 Road K Cortez, CO 81321-9408 or at www.crowcanyon.org/donate. Services will be held on Friday, September 9th at 2:00 pm on the UNLV campus.  For further details, e-mail Sheilagh Polk at Sheilagh_polk@yahoo.com.