Richard Charles Copsey

HILLSBOROUGH – Richard Charles Copsey (“Copsey”), age 62, died at home with his family on May 14, 2023. He was born in Brentwood, Essex, England on August 25, 1960 to Betty Anne Copsey and Michael Colin Copsey.

After graduating Havering Technical College, in Essex, England, Copsey led overland safari expeditions from London to Johannesburg and spent over 16 years as a procurement, logistics, and cooperation technical advisor with the African Wildlife Federation, GTZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit), and other organizations supporting rehabilitation program implementation and maintenance in the Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania, Kenya, and Somalia. Over the course of his life, he traveled throughout 28 African countries, and from 1995 to 2003 was owner and guide of London-based Safari Engineer, which provided private safari tours in Tanzania, Kenya, and the Seychelles, and sole owner and operator of Garden Engineer, a private garden installation business, specializing in roof garden design and construction. In 2003, he married Dr. Paula J. Ehrlich, and subsequently raised his treasured daughter, Alexa Brooke Ehrlich Copsey, at their family’s historic homestead in Hendricks, PA, which he lovingly restored. His family later moved to Durham, NC, where he received certification in solar photovoltaic installation and worked with The Solar Consultants as a solar thermal engineer.

Copsey was a fiercely loving father and caring friend, widely revered for his unconditional generosity, boundless loyalty, mischievous sense of humor, and charming, playful grin. He was fond of walking the Scottish moors, liked to sing in the morning, relished fly-fishing and clay pigeon shooting, pursued knowledge with immense curiosity, and could fix anything that was broken. He will be very sorely missed by all those who came into his life.

Copsey is survived by his mother Betty Anne Copsey, his brother Steven Michael Copsey, his sister Joanna Louise Hoar, and his daughter Alexa Brooke Ehrlich Copsey. He was preceded in death by his father, Michael Colin Copsey.

A private memorial gathering will be held in Hillsborough, NC on June 11, 2023, and in London, England on July 2,  2023.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Melanoma Research Alliance.

The Copsey family is under the care of Hall-Wynne Funeral Service. Online condolences: www.hallwynne.com – select obituaries.