Richard Brian Fast, as mammals do, dropped, naked and gasping, from his mother's womb in 1941. He grew up in Abbotsford, BC.

He got his MD degree from UBC in 1966. He was a naval medical officer for three years, then a Yukon and BC country doc for the rest of his fifty practice years. He worked in small towns in BC and Yukon. Richard retired aged 71 to Atlin, BC. He died at 82, naked and gasping, in 2023.

He loved medicine and his patients, especially midwifery (delivered over 1000 little gaspers). He also loved his partner Maggie and his daughters Laura and Jill. He was interested in everything, but especially astronomy, biology, woodworking, lutherie, Bach and Mozart.