Scarborough – Richard W. Lovaas, 79, a resident of South Portland, died early Saturday morning, Oct. 6, at Maine Veteran’s Homes in Scarborough.

He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Dec. 29, 1927, the son of Martin and Dagny (Rasmussen) Lovaas. He was a 1945 graduate of Livermore Falls High School and served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1945 to 1947, during World War II.

He attended Bowdoin College, University of Maine at Orono, Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science, and graduated from New England Institute of Embalming and Mortuary Science in Boston Mass. On Feb. 18, 1950, he married Priscilla Sturtevant in Livermore Falls.

Richard worked as a self-employed sales representative. Previously he owned Lovaas Funeral Home in Buckfield, was founder of L & M Ambulance Service in West Hartford, Conn., and was co-founder and president of Viking Clock in Foley, Ala.

He was a 50-year member of the Masons. Richard enjoyed stamp and coin collecting, and was an avid reader.

He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Priscilla of South Portland; his brother, Russell Lovaas, (Patricia), of Carver, Mass.; his stepsister, Elisabeth Olsen, (Hakon Stange), of Haugesund, Norway; two nieces, Johanna Gallo, (Paul), of Marblehead, Mass., Pamela Lovaas of Paxton, Mass.; and two nephews, Russell Lovaas Jr., (Kathy), of Malabar, Fla., and Peter Lovaas, (Susan), of Lexington, S.C.; and many grand-nieces; and grand-nephews.