Richard J. Bauer, founder and late-Chairman of Eastern Alloys, entered into rest on Friday, May 21, 2010, at St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital, Newburgh Campus. He was 85.

Son of the late Mr. and Mrs. George H. Bauer, he was born on May 9, 1925 in Queens, NY. He was married to Anita Henning Bauer, who predeceased him on July 2, 2007.

He is survived by his loving son, Richard H. Bauer and his wife, Mary Jane of Balmville; grandchildren: Elizabeth Bauer, Kathryn Bauer, both of Manhattan, and Court Bauer and his wife, Sarah of Larchmont, NY; great-grandchildren, Sabrina Bauer and John Bauer; daughter-in-law, Carolyn Bauer. He was predeceased by his son, Jonathan Bauer.

Richard proudly served in the U.S. Navy from 1943-1946; from 1947-1950, he was a student at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, now known as Polytechnic University. Concurrently, while attending school held a full-time position with the New York Telephone Company in their testing division; from 1951–1965 he was employed with a firm in Brooklyn, NY, manufacturing non-ferrous metal alloys. During that period of time he rose from Plant Metallurgist to Executive Vice President and General Manager.

He was the founder of Eastern Alloys, Inc. in Maybrook, NY and co-founder and chairman of Service Aluminum Corporation in Ellicott City, MD. He was also the co-founder, former Director, Treasurer, and past President of the Independent Zinc Alloyers Association, former director of the Zinc Institute, and former director of the American Die Casting Institute, a past member of the Board of Trustees of St. Luke's Hospital since 1974, serving as past vice-president, past president and past Chairman of the Board, a member of the Board of the Kaplan Foundation, a member of the American Institute of Metallurgical Engineers, the American Society for Metals, and the Mining Club in New York.

He was the recipient of the Doehler Award in 1982 in recognition of accomplishments in the service of the die casting industry, and the Gullo and Treiber Award in 1997, both by the North American Die Casting Association, recipient of the Americanism Award by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith in 1989 in recognition of his excellence in industry and his leadership in the community, elected Fellow of Polytechnic University in 1981 where he graduated with a degree in Metallurgical Engineering in 1951, received the Distinguished Citizen Award, 1991, given by the Boy Scouts of America, Hudson-Delaware Council, for outstanding service to both the Boy Scouts and the community, Mr. Bauer, on behalf of the zinc industry and the Independent Zinc Alloyers Association, and the Washington Conference for Zinc, has appeared before many congressional committees in support of vital issues affecting the supply of zinc and alloy to the die casting industry. He is currently Chairman of the Washington Conference for Zinc.