Richard 'Dick' Oliphant, Former Indian Wells Mayor, Dies At 92

PALM DESERT, CA — Former Mayor Richard "Dick" Oliphant, who is credited with helping Indian Wells avoid being dissolved or absorbed by a neighboring city, has died at the age of 92, officials announced Wednesday.

When Oliphant became mayor in 1984, reduced tax revenue stemming from the 1978 passage of Proposition 13 left the city with shrinking reserves and an uncertain future.

Working through the city's newly formed redevelopment agency, Oliphant helped make possible the Indian Wells Golf Resort, the catalyst for the development of the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa, now the Grand Hyatt Indian Wells Resort & Spa, and the BNP Paribas Open's future home of the Indian Wells Tennis Gardens.

Oliphant approached leaders of the California State University system in the late 1980s about establishing a permanent campus in Palm Desert. He helped negotiate an agreement with the CSU to support Cal State San Bernardino's Palm Desert Campus with programs, provided it could be built without state funds.

Oliphant and co-chair Betty Barker raised more than $30 million, resulting in four buildings being built.

"Without Dick's initial vision and later energy and support, we could never have built the Palm Desert Campus," then-Cal State San Bernardino President Albert Karnig said in 2006 in connection with Oliphant receiving an honorary doctorate from Cal State San Bernardino. "Dick has been the campus patron."

Through his leadership with the Desert Sands Unified School District Building Corp., Oliphant helped oversee construction of numerous schools and buildings. Richard Oliphant Elementary School in Indio was named in his honor.

Before becoming mayor, Oliphant was the city's first fire chief and one of the Coachella Valley's earliest paramedics. Fire Station 55 will be renamed in his honor for his long-lasting contributions to the city, city officials said.

Oliphant came to the Coachella Valley in 1962 from Iowa to manage a retirement community in Palm Desert.

He is survived by his wife Jan, their five children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

"Dick Oliphant was the visionary mayor of Indian Wells who used his financial acumen, real estate development expertise and powerful political relationships to establish Indian Wells as a globally recognized destination for tennis, golf, luxury accommodations and a fiscally sound, safe, tranquil desert community," Mayor Toper Taylor said in a statement.

"Today, we mourn a man whose contributions to Indian Wells we will honor for generations to come."