Richard E. Holmes: key obituary facts
Is Richard E. Holmes dead? Yes. Richard E. Holmes died on October 16, 2026, at age 82.
Cause of death: Richard E. Holmes's cause of death has not been publicly confirmed.
What was Richard E. Holmes known for?
He was an American medical doctor.
More about Richard E. Holmes
Born: 1 January 1944.
Gender: male.
Education: Mississippi State University, Henderson High School.
Also known as: Richard Holmes.
Richard E.
Holmes, an American civil rights activist and physician, died October 16, 2026, aged 82. Born in Chicago to Horace and Minnie Holmes, he was raised in Starkville, Mississippi, after his mother brought him and his three older brothers there when he was 18 months old.
They lived with Eliza Hunter, a family friend whom Holmes regarded as his grandmother. He attended Henderson High School and later studied at Mississippi State University. In 1965, while a third-year college student, he enrolled at the previously segregated university. He was among five Black Mississippians who pioneered the desegregation of Mississippi’s major state universities. Following passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, his enrollment was the most peaceful of those efforts to that point. Holmes completed his degree at Mississippi State and served in the U.S. Army. He went on to earn a master’s degree in related fields and a medical degree from Michigan State University. Specializing in emergency department medicine, he practiced in hospitals in Birmingham, Alabama. In 2003, he returned to Mississippi State as a staff physician at the university’s health center.