TMA Past President Richard “Dick” L. Sampson passed away on December 13th at the age of 87. An entrepreneur through and through, Dick founded and built what is now American Alarm and Communications in his family home in 1971. He became a dedicated and revered leader within the life-safety and security industry. Read his obituary in full HERE.

“Dick Simpson was a remarkable leader and an innovative trailblazer in the security industry. His visionary contributions and steadfast dedication not only advanced the field but also inspired countless professionals,” shared TMA Past President Lou Fiore (1997-1999). “As a past president of The Monitoring Association, his influence was profound, leaving a legacy of excellence and commitment to security standards. In 2005, Dick graciously honored me with the prestigious TMA Stan Lott Award, a testament to his generosity. His legacy continues to inspire and guide us all.”

TMA Past President Ralph Wayne Sevinor (1999-2001) remarked, “Knowing Dick for almost fifty years he was a true champion among champions. An individual who was very dedicated to the electronic detection profession. He set a high bar for people , for professionalism of the industry and to the consumer. Dick set a best practice in the industry with licensure processes and representation in Massachusetts and we are all in a far better place because of Dick’s efforts. Dick was a gentle, tenacious individual and a good friend. He touched so many lives for the better. We are all saddened at the loss of Dick and proud to have worked with him on so many industry projects. May the Sampson family find solace in this difficult time and know his memory will live on.”

Some of Dick’s most notable contributions to TMA include:
• Introduced a new CSAA logo
• Marked the 500th graduate of the TMA Online level 1 in Winter 2003 and, by summer 2005, had 1,500 graduates.
• Released new edition of Burg book.
• Established a Standards subcommittee to develop a video verification standard (CS-V-01), which later was sent to ANSI.
• Started development of the False Alarm Reduction course.
• Celebrated the 5th NAMTSE (later NASS EX, and finally CSAA Electronic Security Forum and Exposition or CSAA Forum) meeting, which was the precursor of ESX.
• Led the release of CSAA’s third online operators’ course, the New Employee Orientation Online Training Course.
• Initiated the planning and development of the Level 2 online course.
• Reported record-breaking attendance in his six meetings—(NAMTSE/NASS EX and CSAA Forum), Annual and the Operations Management Seminar