Richard O. Pollard; Former Life Magazine Photo Director

Richard O. Pollard, 81, award-winning retired director of photography for Life magazine. From 1961 to 1972 Pollard headed a staff of 40 staff and 60 free-lance photographers around the world with an annual operating budget of $3 million. Before taking over all photographic responsibility for the magazine, he had been bureau chief for Life in London, and for Time Inc. in San Francisco, where Time, Fortune and Sports Illustrated magazines also fell under his purview. In 1973 he was awarded the National Press Photographers Assn. Sprague Memorial Award, one of the highest in the profession. In Santa Barbara on Jan. 14 of complications after surgery.