Richard DeCamp, ‘a wonderful salesman for preservation’ in Lexington, dies at 90

Richard “Dick” DeCamp, a longtime supporter of Lexington and its history, died Monday. He was 90.

DeCamp was a member of the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting Kentucky’s historic places. He also served on the Urban City Council for 12 years, promoting the arts and the importance of preservation throughout Lexington.

After moving to the Bluegrass from Cincinnati with a history degree from Brown University, DeCamp started working in sales at Taft Broadcasting Co., which owned WKYT-TV Channel 27. He then became the Trust’s first executive director in 1969 and served as the first head of the Lexington-Fayette County Historic Commission in 1973, now known as the Office of Historic Preservation.

DeCamp also held a position on the Urban City Council from 1996 to 2008, representing the third district. While on council, DeCamp worked on the Town & Gown Commission to foster relations between University of Kentucky and surrounding neighborhoods, championing laws like the Lexington Area Party Plan and a keg registration ordinance.

In recognition of his work, the Columbia Heights Neighborhood Association made DeCamp an honorary member of the organization.

He was also a board member of LexArts and lobbied for more city funding for the arts, as well as an art review board to approve all public monuments and art installations around Lexington.

During his tenure as head of the Historic Commission, DeCamp saw the 100th running of the Kentucky Derby and Princess Margaret’s visit to Lexington in 1974, as well as the Bicentennial of Lexington in 1975.

Among his accomplishments at the Trust, DeCamp founded the BGT Plaque Program in the early 1970s, an application-based initiative to document and recognize historic Kentucky buildings that are over 50 years old. Now, according to the Trust, the program has placed plaques on over 1,000 buildings across Central Kentucky.

Additionally, under DeCamp’s leadership, over 3,000 Kentucky structures were included on the National Register of Historic Places, and he helped create nine historic districts in Lexington, bringing the total to 16.

Because of his contributions and years of service, the Trust awarded him the honorary title of Executive Director Emeritus in 2007.

John Hackworth, chair of the Trust’s Advisory Board, has been with the organization for over 20 years and said he has known DeCamp since the 1970s.

“He was just a delightful person to be around, and I think his charisma was one of his most valuable assets,” Hackworth said. “He was a personality that something had to be wrong with you if you didn’t like him.”

He said DeCamp was involved with the Trust for decades. After moving to Lexington in the 1960s, DeCamp lived in the Hunt-Morgan House, the first structure the organization purchased in 1955.

During his decades at the Trust, Hackworth said DeCamp helped bring public attention to the importance of protecting historic places, calling him a “wonderful salesman for preservation.”

“He had a magnetic personality and very congenial, and he got preservation on people’s minds throughout this community and throughout the Bluegrass,” Hackworth said. “We’ll miss him terribly.”

This story was originally published May 31, 2022 at 3:28 PM.