Rick Wright, 67, salesman and sailor

Fredric "Rick" Stevenson Wright, 67, of Ardmore, a surgical-equipment salesman and sailor, died Monday, Oct. 12, of cancer at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

He lived with care, courage, and a fierce empathy for those around him, his wife and daughter said.

After high school, the San Francisco-born Mr. Wright became a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War. Instead, he trained as a medic at Fort Houston in San Antonio and then served as an operating-room assistant at Fort Campbell in Kentucky from 1971 to 1973. After completing his service, he studied at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

In 1977, he started in sales for Synthes Ltd., a Swiss manufacturer of medical devices that mend bone fractures. He contributed to two patented inventions - one of which, the Dynamic Hip Screw, would be used on Mr. Wright himself in 2012, when he fell and fractured his hip.

He was living in Seattle when he met a nurse in his building, Anne Jeffrey, who was tending to a child who had received the same type of blood marrow transplant that Mr. Wright would obtain in cancer treatment.

They went out for two years, and had gone separate ways, she recalled, when both wound up moving to Philadelphia. They were married on New Year's Eve in 1983.

Mr. Wright adored sailing. He skippered boats in Puget Sound, the Straits of San Juan de Fuca, Caribbean Sea, Chesapeake Bay, and canals in Erie and Champlain, N.Y., and France's Canal du Midi. He was a member of the Corinthian Yacht Club in Essington and the Rock Hall Yacht Club in Rock Hall, Md.

He built boats as well - in the living room of his Seattle apartment.

"He and Mom joked that they wouldn't be able to get a boat out the door, so it would just function as a salad bar," said his daughter, Abbe Wright.

He found it important that his children shared his passions, she said. Sailing was one of those passions. "He taught us to look at the elements and feel the wind," his daughter said. "It was just a completely all-encompassing, lovely thing to do with my dad."

During the summers, Mr. Wright and his family would spend a week at a time on a boat in the Chesapeake, playing cards and catching crabs. The boat was one of three named after Anne. In and out of the water, Mr. Wright served as a mentor to the young people around him, said Abbe Wright, including his three nephews, who grew up across the street from him.

"He would always say: 'Call me if you're ever in jail. You get a "Get out of jail free" card. I'll bail you out, I won't ask questions.' "

He served three terms on the vestry at St. Mary's Episcopal Church at Ardmore and led a youth group, Journey to Adulthood, on two spiritual pilgrimages to Ireland.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Wright is survived by son Jeffrey, five sisters, and one brother.

A memorial service will be Saturday, Oct. 17, at 2 p.m. at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 36 Ardmore Ave., in Ardmore. A private reception will follow. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Ronald McDonald House of Delaware, 1901 Rockland Road, Wilmington, Del., 19803 (www.rmhde.org) or to the St. Mary's Church Choir, 36 Ardmore Ave., Ardmore, Pa., 19003.