Richard Cornelius Caesar (1918–2011)

Richard Cornelius Caesar was a prominent dentist, philanthropist, civic leader, Air Force officer, and combat pilot with the 332^nd Fighter Squadron, best known as the famed Tuskegee Airmen, Red Tails, or Schwartze Vogelmenschen (“Black Birdmen”) among enemy German pilots.

Richard C. Caesar was born in Lake Village (Chicot County) on April 12, 1918, into the farming family of Robert C. Caesar and Lenora Campbell Caesar. Caesar attended high school at Arkansas AM&N (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff). In 1940, he received a BS from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, where he had been initiated into the Pi Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. in December 1939.

Caesar was drafted into the military, and because he was a college graduate, he was a prime candidate for officer and pilot training. He joined the volunteer-only Army Air Corps, entering the Tuskegee Flight School as part of the Single Engine Section Class SE-42-H. On September 6, 1942, Caesar graduated from flight school, earning his wings and a commission as a second lieutenant. Upon graduation, he was assigned to the 100^th Fighter Squadron, which was part of the 332^nd Fighter Group.

His service spanned World War II and the Korean War, at the completion of which he retired from the air force with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Caesar was not only a fighter pilot in the 100^th FS, but he was also the engineering officer, which meant he was the primary officer responsible for the maintenance and mechanical integrity of the fleet. This was a high-stakes position during the transition to the P-51 Mustang in 1944, where ensuring that the cooling systems and Merlin engines were combat-ready was the difference between life and death for the African American fliers who became known as the Red Tails. In 1943, Caesar was credited with saving the life of Roscoe Brown, a fellow airman, from a potentially fatal crash, but the exact details are not known. In the meantime, he had been accepted into the historically Black Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, where he earned a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) in 1951.

In 1956, Caesar married Arkansas-born concert pianist and fashion model Lois Towles, who trained under famed pianist Arthur Rubinstein and composer Nadia Boulanger at the American Fontainebleau Schools. They relocated to San Francisco, where he began his forty-year career in dentistry. Lois died in 1983, and they had no children. Later in 1983, Caesar married Jeralene Elaine Williams Gilchrist in San Francisco. He had a stepson, Jonathan Gilchrist.

Caesar made many civic contributions. He was a Life Governor of the San Francisco Symphony. He was chairman of the board of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), and the YMCA gymnasium in San Francisco was named in his honor. Additionally, in 1984, the YMCA of San Francisco named him the Humanitarian of the Year. Morehouse College awarded him the Bennie Trailblazer Award in 2009. He was president of the San Francisco Dental Society and chairman of Pacific Area Section of the Academy of Dentistry International. He was a lifetime member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

In March 2007, Caesar and the other Tuskegee Airmen were recognized by President George W. Bush, who presented each with the Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of their “unique military record, which inspired revolutionary reform in the Armed Forces.”

Caesar died on December 20, 2011, at his home in Foster City, California, and is interred at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno (located just south of San Francisco).

For additional information:
“In Memory: Richard C. Caesar.” San Francisco Chronicle. December 27, 2011, p. 24.

“Richard C. Caesar.” CAF Rise Above. https://cafriseabove.org/richard-c-caesar/ (accessed July 10, 2026).

Richard Holbert
Little Rock, Arkansas