Richard Stuart Lannamann, January 6, 2026
Published in Sarasota Herald-Tribune, January 15, 2026
Richard S. Lannamann of Osprey, Florida, passed away peacefully on January 6, 2026, in Stamford, Connecticut, following a heart attack on Christmas Eve. His loving wife, Kate, was at his side. He was 78. Rick was a beloved husband, father, and grandfather and a distinguished leader in the executive search profession.
Born on September 4, 1947, Rick was raised in Cincinnati and graduated from Walnut Hills High School. In 1969, he earned a degree in Economics from Yale University and received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1973. In 1978, Rick entered the executive search profession, where he would leave a lasting and defining legacy. He advised senior executives at many of the world’s leading investment organizations and helped build and shape the investment management specialty, first as Managing Director at Russell Reynolds Associates and later as Vice Chairman at Spencer Stuart.
Rick gave tirelessly of his time and leadership to numerous organizations, serving on the board of the Foreign Policy Association, the Jackson Laboratory, the Sarasota Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the Boys Choir of Harlem. He was President of the Yale Alumni Association in Greenwich, Connecticut, and the Yale Club of the Suncoast in Florida, and also served as a member of the Financial Analysts Seminar Board of Regents, an important advisory body to the CFA Institute.
Rick raised three sons in Riverside, Connecticut, and was a member of the Riverside Yacht Club for more than 50 years. That was where, in 1998, Rick married Kate Lannamann, and the next 27 years were filled with adventure, joy, and deep devotion, spending Rick’s later years in the Sarasota, Florida, community, where they were members of the Oaks Club in Osprey.
Music was an essential element of Rick’s life. He played the piano from childhood and, at Yale, sang with the Yale Alley Cats. Rick also loved to travel; a master of research, planning, and patience, Rick often joked that he had missed his true calling as a travel agent.
Rick was predeceased by his parents, Frank and Iola “Tommie” Lanaman. He is survived by his wife, Kate; his sister, Virginia Barney; his three sons, Tom (Mari), Ned, and Jack (Kelli), from his first marriage to Margaret Mahoney; his two stepdaughters, Liz Scheffler (John Warner) and Annie Scheffler; and his four grandchildren.
Throughout his life, Rick was admired not only for his intellect and professional excellence, but for his optimism, integrity, and generosity of spirit. He lived with purpose and gratitude, meeting life’s challenges with grace and resilience. In his understated way, Rick touched countless lives, leaving a lasting and meaningful impact on all who knew him. A celebration of life will be held on February 21 at Unitarian Universalists of Sarasota in Sarasota, Florida, at 1:30 pm.
I vividly recall how Rick and I used to sit cheek by jowl on the carillon bench playing “Bright College Years” and “The Whiffenpoof Song,” the latter with the sorrowful phrase, “gone and now forgotten with the rest,” which I recall Rick, sitting on the bass side of the bench, used to play slowly and mournfully on the lower bells.
As an Alley Cat (class of ’69), I knew Rick Lannamann well during the bright college years. But we kept in fairly close touch in the many years after that because of the type of person he exemplified. He was without a doubt the single most “goodness filled” individual anyone could encounter. He brimmed with integrity, overflowed with generosity, and oozed the milk of human kindness from every pore. He was very easy to like and, for Kate, easy to love.
That essence of Rick we now miss dearly.
It was my honor to propose Rick for membership on the Guild of Carillonneurs advisory board—and what a pleasure when he gracefully accepted. He brought intelligence, wisdom, and wit to our little group. As he did everywhere.
Here is a picture of a recent visit to Harkness tower where I met with Rick. I had just played the bells, and Rick and I had played a duet on the practice clavier as well.