Seattle Fire Chief Jack Richards, 1922-2008  The memorial service for the former Chief of the Seattle Fire Department, Jack Richards, will be held on Saturday, March 15 at 10:30 a.m. at the Chapel of St. Ignatius, Seattle University at 901 12th Avenue in Seattle. SFD members are authorized to wear Class A uniforms with caps. Members should arrive 45 minutes prior to the service for briefing. the following from a P-I ariticle by BRAD WONG, P-I REPORTER  Richards, a Seattle native who devoted his life to fighting fires and saving others, died March 3. The 85-year-old, who also served on the City Council, suffered from complications from prostate cancer, his wife said. "He was a fireman's fireman," she recalled. Before Richards died, one of Monzon-Richards' children asked what he enjoyed the most as a firefighter. "He said, 'All of it. I loved it all,' " his wife recalled.

John Neil Richards was born in Seattle on Aug. 18, 1922. But everyone called him "Jack."

After graduating from Roosevelt High School, he joined the city's Fire Department in 1942 at the urging of his grandfather Neil Richards, a Seattle firefighter.

Beginning in the 1950s, Jack Richards ascended through the ranks. Monzon-Richards believes his "unswerving devotion" helped, as did his intelligence, hard work and strong will. She believes her husband also wanted to make his grandfather proud.

In the 1970s, Mayor Wes Uhlman appointed him department chief, a position he held from 1972 to 1974. But the two clashed over budget cuts, especially with the department's arson investigation, Monzon-Richards said. Furious, Richards talked with the mayor's budget aide about the money. Later, he personally contacted the City Council for financial support. In the end, a mayor's aide told him he was going to lose his job as chief. But one day before his termination date in 1974, he retired.

From 1980 to 1984, he served on the City Council and helped win money to support HIV/AIDS research for the city's gay community, Monzon-Richards said.

For decades, he remained a strong backer of the Medic One Foundation, which supports the internationally recognized paramedic training program that began in Seattle.

In the 1980s and 1990s, he was the executive secretary for the Seattle firefighters' pension board.

When Gary Richards, his son from an earlier marriage, retired as a Seattle firefighter in 2006, it ended a 100-year streak in which a family member served in the department.

Survivors include his wife, four children, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Remembrances can be sent to the Medic One Foundation, 325 Ninth Ave., Seattle, WA 98104.