Richard Ramsden was born in Wrenthan, Massachusetts, on September 10, 1937. After graduating from Phillips Exeter Adademy in Exeter, New Hampshire in 1955, Ramsden attended Harvard University for one year before transferring to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. After graduation from Brown in 1959, Ramsden earned his Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) degree from the Harvard Business School in 1961. From 1961 to 1972 he worked in investment banking in New York City with the firms of Dillon, Reid & Co., Inc., and Brokaw, Schaenen, Clancy & Co. From 1969 to 1970, Ramsden served in Washington, D.C. as a White House Fellow. In 1973 he was a consultant for the Nine College Study of the Financing of Undergraduate Education, sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. For the next three years, 1974 to 1977, he was the Executive Director of the Consortium on Financing Higher Education at Dartmouth College in Hannover, New Hampshire.
Ramsden joined the administration of Brown University in October of 1977 as the Vice President for Administration and Finance. In July of 1980 he was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the University. He resigned his position in December 1982 to return to private business, joining the Earl Kinship Capital Corporation in New York City as its President and Chief Executive Officer.
From the guide to the Richard Ramsden papers, Ramsden (Richard) papers, (bulk 1977-1982), 1967-1984, (John Hay Library Special Collections)
