Poughquag, NY – Richard Christian Luders, 88, died peacefully on October 23, 2022 at Putnam Hospital Center surrounded by his family. He had formerly lived in Somers, NY, Mendham, NJ and Plainfield, NJ. Born in Staten Island on July 23, 1934, he was the son of Christian and Edith (Rasmussen) Luders. He received his Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Wagner College in Staten Island. He was a member of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church.

On March 9, 1957 at the Hitchcock Memorial Church in Scarsdale, Richard married the love of his life, Deborah Carol Maser, who survives at home. They celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary this year. He is also survived by his children and their spouses, Robert C. and Cathy Luders, Mark T. and Jill Luders and Debiane M. and Stephen Peter; his grandchildren, Lauren Peter, Jonathan Luders and April Luders; and two nieces, Kimberly Wehrli and Diane C. Mathisen and her family. He is predeceased by his sister Caroline O. Wehrli.

Richard's family and faith were very important to him. He loved his wife and children very much and his grandchildren, who called him "Pops", were the light of his life. He was a good son. When his children were young, he enjoyed family camping trips and hiking mountains and as they got older, trips to their ski house in Killington, VT and their beach condo in Pompano Beach, FL. Later he and Debby traveled extensively to all 7 continents including all 50 US states and most of the Canadian Provinces. The drive from New York to Alaska was very memorable. Some of these travels consisted of watching his grandchildren's sporting events.He enjoyed hosting his family at their beautiful home that was decorated with photos he had taken on their world-wide travels. He and Debby would cook delicious meals often served on fine china with special desserts. He had a love of cars, music, fine wine/ bourbon tasting, coffee and raising/showing German Shepherds. While he had a serious side, he would surprise everyone by wearing New Year's paper crowns or silly holiday hats and glasses to make people laugh - especially his grandkids.

Richard was employed as a Senior Staff Scientist, Clinical Pharmacokinetics and Disposition Section for Ciba-Geigy Corp in Ardsley for 37 years until his retirement in 1993. During his employment as the head of Bioanalytical Services, he pioneered the development and utilization of Chromatographic methods for studying the disposition/pharmacokinetics of the company's products. After the merger with Geigy in 1971, he developed new sensitive analytical methods using both gas and high performance liquid chromatography. He also pioneered and co-developed the first flexible robotics system (Pie) for drug metabolism studies. The equipment was in turn marketed by Zymark.

Richard was a member of the American Chemical Society, NJ Chromatography Society, NY Chromatography Discussion Group (Past Chairman, Program Chairman and Director), Chromatography Discussion Group (Nottingham, UK), and American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists.

Richard/Pops was a brave man who was loved dearly and will be missed.

Calling hours will be held on Tuesday, November 1st, from 4-6pm at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 55 Wilbur Blvd., Poughkeepsie, NY. There will be a graveside service on Wednesday, November 2nd at 11am at Beekman Cemetery, 5 Church Street, Poughquag, NY.