If you ever walked with Richard de Uriarte through a downtown Phoenix convention hall filled with all the big names — the newsmakers, the businesspeople, the celebrities — you knew to set aside a good hour or so.

Because he knew everyone.

If you were with him, you saw eyes and teeth brighten at his approach, then came hearty handshakes and hugs and long, loud exuberant laughter.

The important people of this city knew Richard, and they loved him.

Perhaps it was because Richard knew something true about them — that they really weren’t any more important than the rest of the people in Arizona.

This Irish-Catholic-Latino boy who grew up in Philadelphia and relished good conversation and the game of basketball would eventually wend his way through newspapers to politics and back again to the Phoenix Gazette and Arizona Republic.

He was for a season The Republic ombudsman, its ambassador to the community and fielder of questions and complaints. What a perfect job for a man who adored people — all people — even the cranks.

He would go on to serve nearly two decades as an editorial writer and member of The Republic editorial board.

We knew him as “the conscience” of the board. He was that fist that pounded the table........

© Arizona Republic