Richard Stone, M.A. '71

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Richard Stone, M.A. '71, announced, "At long last (half a century!), I have finally written a book, which will be published next May."

In a review of "Project Mayflower: Building and Sailing a 17th-Century Replica", Keith Thomson, author of the New York Times bestseller "Born to Be Hanged," wrote,

The true story of a plucky British World War II vet’s dream of building a replica of the Mayflower and sailing her across the Atlantic, Richard A. Stone’s superb "Project Mayflower" will engage all nonfiction readers who go in for accounts of perseverance against remarkable odds—and the maritime history buffs among them will want to make space on the bookshelf where they keep their Samuel Eliot Morisons and Nathaniel Philbricks.

In another review, Stephen R. Bown, author of "Island of the Blue Foxes: Disaster and Triumph on the World’s Greatest Scientific Expedition," wrote,

"Project Mayflower" is a fascinating and quirky tour through the early European settlement of New England and the quixotic quest of an English World War II veteran and writer to build a replica of the Mayflower and sail it across the Atlantic in the 1950s. His lofty, attention-seeking dream—a gesture of goodwill and a symbol of triumph over adversity—led to a partnership with the scion of a wealthy New England family and a tug-of-war over the ship’s purpose and future. The story, with its unexpected detours into politics, global events, and creative marketing schemes, proves the maxim that truth is stranger than fiction.

Stone is the founder of Mayflower Event News, an information platform devoted to stories related to the Mayflower and Mayflower II. A graduate of Harvard (B.A. in economics) and UCLA (M.A. in journalism), he worked for decades with America’s premier media groups. Stone first joined NBC Radio and then moved to the TV side where, in addition to entertainment content, he sold sponsorships for the nightly news and the Olympics.

After seven years, he moved to HBO for eight years as the network became a creative force in New York and Hollywood. When its parent company, Time Inc., launched "TV Cable Week," a print magazine modeled on "People," he was part of the management team on the masthead. ESPN then hired Stone to design, launch and manage multiple international networks for thirteen years. Following that, he represented the Canadian Football League outside of Canada, advised Panasonic Avionics on inflight entertainment and worked as a consultant to the Plimoth Patuxet Museums.

Originally from Southern California, Stone now lives in Cos Cob, Connecticut.