CONCORD, Mass. – Richard M. Ford, 81, of Concord, Mass., died Aug. 24, at Concord Healthcare Center, after a period of failing health. He was the loving husband of Joan (Campbell) Ford, to whom he was married for 56 years.

He was born Dec. 3, 1926, in Astoria, N.Y., son of the late Clyde and Marie (Mosley) Ford. He graduated from The Peddie School, Hightstown, N.J., in 1947, where he excelled in football and track. He served in the U.S. Army and was a veteran of World War II.

He graduated from New York University’s School of Education in 1951, and received his master’s in mathematics in 1953. He began his lifelong career as an educator, teaching seventh and eighth grade math and science and coaching basketball, in Freehold, N.J., in 1952.

In 1958, he became an elementary school principal in Sarasota, Fla., and continued his career back in New Jersey, becoming superintendent of schools in 1960, in Holmdel, N.J. He received his master’s in school administration from Rutgers University in 1964.

In 1965, he moved his family to Concord, Mass., and spent the next 33 years as an elementary principal at the Willard and Alcott schools in Concord, Mass., retiring in 1998, at the age of 71. Since his retirement, he and Joan loved to travel, especially to Sanibel Island and Maine.

Besides his wife, he is survived by his children, Marie Reed and husband, Allen, of Hudson, Mass., Richard Ford and wife, Stephanie, of Bedford, N.H., John Ford and wife, Carolyn, of Weymouth, Mass., Joanna Ford and partner, David Himes, of Durango, Colo., and Clyde Ford and wife, Maura, of Bradford, Mass.; eight grandchildren; and his sisters, Jane Rose of Bell, Fla., and Mary Murphy of Issaquah, Wash.

He was predeceased by his brother, John Ford.