Right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson, who was a long-time host on Fox prior to starting his own media projects, announced on X that his father, whom he regarded as “the toughest person in the world,” has passed away.
Richard “Dick” Warner Carlson passed away in his residence in Boca Grande, Florida, surrounded by his children.
Just like his son, Dick began his career as a reporter before taking on the role of U.S. Ambassador to the Seychelles under President George H. W. Bush in the early 1990s. Prior to that, he served as the Director of Voice of America during President Ronald Reagan’s administration.
In a tribute to his father, Tucker expressed, “Throughout his life, he fervently loved dogs” and after enduring a six-week illness, Dick Carlson “refused all painkillers to the end and departed this world with dignity and clarity, holding the hands of his children with his dogs at his feet.”
Born on February 10, 1941, in Massachusetts, Dick was placed in an orphanage in Boston by his Swedish-speaking mother, who was only 15 at the time. He spent his childhood transitioning between various foster families before ultimately being adopted. At the age of 17, he was expelled from school and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps.
“He was a free thinker and a compulsive book reader, even at red lights,” Tucker remarked about his father.
“He left behind a library containing thousands of books, many of which were dog-eared and filled with notes in the margins. His extensive reading and life experiences led him to believe in the existence of God. He possessed an outlaw spirit, yet was tempered by a sense of decency.”
Throughout his lifetime, he worked in numerous countries, engaging with various world leaders.
“He was a fundamentally nonjudgmental individual who was difficult to shock, and he spoke of them all with a sense of amused affection,” Tucker further commented on his father.
Dick Carlson was a single father who independently raised his sons after his wife left for Europe and did not come back, as she aspired to pursue a bohemian lifestyle, according to Tucker.
Dick frequently took his sons on reporting excursions and imparted knowledge to them at the dinner table on subjects that included the French Revolution, Bolshevik Russia, PG Wodehouse, the history of the American Indian, and, invariably, the timeless and unchanging essence of humanity.
He wed Patricia Swanson, the heiress to the Swanson Foods fortune, in 1979.
“They shared 44 years together, all of which were joyful,” Tucker Carlson noted. “She passed away sixteen months prior to his death, and he grieved for her daily.”
Richard “Dick” Warner Carlson is survived by his two sons, five grandchildren, and his daughter-in-law.