Paul Richardson, 67, radiologist, philanthropist

Paul A. Richardson, 67, a Center City radiologist and philanthropist who loved music, photography, and racing sports cars, died Monday, May 27, of cardiac arrest at his second home in Wrightstown, Bucks County.

Born in Manchester, England, Dr. Richardson went to medical school in England and then came to the United States, where he completed specialty studies at Cornell and New York Universities.

In 1977, he was at New York Presbyterian Hospital when he met Linda DiNubile, a Philadelphian working in New York as a bank officer. They married 10 months later and moved to Philadelphia.

Dr. Richardson became a citizen in 1993.

During a long career, he was chief of radiology at St. Agnes Medical Center. He also worked at Hahnemann University Hospital and Cooper University Hospital.

About five years ago, Dr. Richardson semiretired and went into private practice as chief of radiology at Premier Imaging, part of Premier Orthopedics & Sports Medicine in Havertown.

"When the new field of MRI imaging emerged, Paul was a pioneer in the complex area of muscular imaging. He soon emerged as an authority on the body's muscles, bones, and joints," said Premier orthopedic surgeon Nicholas DiNubile, Dr. Richardson's brother-in-law.

During his semiretirement, Dr. Richardson's interest in photography grew, his wife said. An avid gardener who loved nature, he took "very tender photographs," she said. But he also liked anything that was in a state of decrepitude, such as old prisons.

"He just had an eye to see beauty in the most deteriorated, torn-apart world," Linda Richardson said.

That part of his life was a dichotomy that somehow made sense. Dr. Richardson spent much of his professional life as a diagnostic interventional radiologist, "looking for things you don't want to find," Linda Richardson said. "And then, when he started his photography, which is very connected to that, he was looking for things he wanted to find."

Dr. Richardson listened to classical music virtually every day and was a regular subscriber to the Philadelphia Orchestra.

He also raced sports cars - his latest was a silver Porsche 911 - and was a racing instructor.

Dr. Richardson was a supporter of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He funded grants to support promising young scientists at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania and contributed to an endowment to the Fox Chase Cancer Center for "Connie's Room" - a tribute to his mother-in-law - where physicians can talk to family members of a loved one who has just died.

"He was a superb radiologist," said John H. Glick, an oncologist and professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine.

"Above all, he was an extraordinarily caring, compassionate physician and human being who was absolutely devoted to his wife, Linda."

In addition to his wife, he is survived by a niece and a nephew.

Friends and relatives may call at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 1, at Church of the Holy Trinity, 1904 Walnut St. A service will begin at 11:30 a.m. Interment will follow in Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon.

Donations may be made to the Abramson Cancer Center, 3400 Spruce St., Philadelphia 19104.