Richard P. Covert received a BS in Electrical Engineering in 1950. For most of the next 6 years, he was the company on-site representative during an electric power plant construction project. He then was briefly a design engineer on the B-58, the first super-sonic bomber. He taught for the next 4 years while getting an MS and PhD in Industrial Engineering. After getting his advanced degrees, he was a professor at the University of Missouri and then at the South Dakota State University for a total of 13 years. In 1974 he joined the American Hospital Association, advancing to the position of Director of the Healthcare Information and Management Engineering Society in 1977, a position he held until he retired in 1991. He served in the Navy during both World War II and the Korean War. He is the author of 29 papers and has made more than 50 presentations. Because one of his daughters has mosaic down syndrome, he has been a strong advocate for persons with intellectual disabilities. He served on the Board of Directors for The Arc of Kentucky for 15 years and has been active in various local ARC chapters.