Philharmonic Supporter, AIDS Activist Dies

Richard M. Reinsch, former president and chairman of the Orange County Philharmonic Society and a charter member of the AIDS Services Foundation, died Monday of AIDS-related illness in his Laguna Beach home. He was 52.

A quality assurance engineer with Bechtel Corp. until his retirement about three years ago, Reinsch was a quietly effective, hands-on member of the AIDS Services Foundation board until his final days, according to colleagues.

In late January, Priscilla Munro, executive director of the foundation, found him “quite energetic” and “incredibly caring” at a working meeting at his home.

“It was always about other people; it was never about him,” said Munro, who counted herself a friend as well as a colleague. “He wasn’t just an honorary board member.”

Even while undergoing a painful therapeutic procedure recently at the City of Hope Hospital in Duarte, Munro said, “he was on the line with us virtually every day, giving good advice and directions.”

Mary Ann Creason, an administrative assistant at the Irvine-based AIDS foundation, remembered Reinsch as “a very intense but quiet guy who did a lot of his work behind the scenes.”

As AIDS Services Foundation board secretary and a member of the public policy committee, Reinsch journeyed to Sacramento to lobby politicians about AIDS treatment. Creason said he headed letter-writing and telephone campaigns and was a major donor.

Reinsch also distinguished himself as a member of the Philharmonic Society’s board since 1989. He won the organization’s Man of the Year award in 1996, while serving as that board’s chairman. Soon thereafter, he became the first contributor to the society’s fledgling Esterhazy Patron program, named for the Hungarian supporter of classical composer Franz Joseph Haydn.

Reinsch’s $50,000 donation to the program “gave the signal for everyone else to follow,” said Dean Corey, the society’s executive director.

For his leadership role, Reinsch won the Golden Baton award, the society’s highest honor, in 1997. He was chairman of the society’s 50th anniversary committee when he died.

Calling Reinsch “a great spirit,” Corey praised his ability to help others deal with his illness.

Munro remembered Reinsch, who was fond of skiing and international travel, as “one of those three-newspapers-a-day people, always current on events, and particularly on issues that were of importance to him.”

Reinsch, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Tufts University in Medford, Mass., was an active alumnus who continued to interview prospective students until a few months ago.

He also was a member of the Pacific Symphony and a former vice president of the Log Cabin Club of Orange County, a Republican gay and civil rights activist group.

Survivors include Reinsch’s partner, Brian Rotchford of Laguna Beach; his mother, Helen, of Palm Springs; and a brother, James.