Richard H Malavarca

Richard H. Malavarca, 67, of Long Valley, NJ passed away peacefully on July 13, 2020 at Hackettstown Medical Center with his loving family by his side.
Richard was born on March 27, 1953 in Newark, NJ to the late Louis and Mary Malavarca.
Richard earned his BS in Biology at Boston College where he was also a member of the Rowing Team. In Boston, he met the love of his life Catherine Rust, whom he married in 1987. He was the President and co-founder of Phoenix Songs Biologicals (Branford, CT) from 2012 to June, 2020, where he had principal responsibility for the development of stem cell based models to support drug discovery. During his 30 years in the field, Richard also founded Specialty Media (now a part of Millipore), which was the first company to introduce commercial media for Murine embryos and Murine embryonic stem cells.
He was co-founder of Cell and Molecular Technologies (now a part of Life Technologies), which developed cell lines for high throughput screening. Subsequent to the sale of Specialty Media, Richard was director of R&D for the stem cell area at Millipore and director of expression technologies developing novel upstream products for Millipore's Bioprocess Division.
Richard loved the outdoors, working with his hands and kayaking with his wife and friends. After their early life living aboard a 1936 Mathews Cabin Cruiser, he became a lover of wooden boats. Richard built custom made wooden kayaks and was at work restoring his 1952 46' Alden Ketch yacht at the top of Schooleys Mtn.
He was also a lover of horses, influenced by his membership in the Junior Essex Troop of Cavalry, founded as a cadet auxiliary with the support of the famous Essex Troop of the 102nd Cavalry, New Jersey National Guard. With a cadre of alumni and friends from the early troop, Richard helped run the well-known annual A-rated Jr. Essex Troop Garden State Horseshow, where he also served as announcer for several years.
In recent years, Richard volunteered as an assistant to the Therapeutic Riding Program at Centenary University, which included "Operation Centaur," an equine-based program for military veterans of all eras.
Above all he loved his family, and his close circle of life-long friends, for whom he was unfailingly supportive. He will be deeply missed by all.
Richard is survived by his devoted wife of 33 years Catherine Rust Malavarca, his loving son, Evan Malavarca and his caring siblings, Joni Cowles and husband K.C. Cowles, and brother Steven Malavarca, sister-in-law Sherril Garahan (St. Paul, Mn), and nieces and nephews Jenna, Samantha and Lucas Malavarca, and Eliot and Laura Garahan.
Family and friends may pay their respects on Tuesday, July 21, 2020 from 5-7 PM at the Maguire-Scala Memorial Home, 124 High Street, Hackettstown, NJ 07840. A memorial service will be held privately at a later date on the farm.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Richard's name to: The Foundation for Hackettstown Medical Center, in gratitude for their dedicated, kind and compassionate care of Richard during this last battle. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Maguire-Scala Memorial Home, 124 High Street, Hackettstown, NJ 07840, (908)852-2420