Richard Chinery Jr.

Richard Chinery Jr., known to many as Hank Richards, 71, of Little Egg Harbor, NJ, passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on Tuesday, July 14, 2026. One of his final acts of generosity was giving the gift of life to at least three people through organ donation.

Richard was born in Toms River, NJ, and raised in Lakehurst, where his adventurous spirit and knack for finding trouble gave rise to countless stories that he loved telling throughout his life. He later spent many years in Tuckerton, where he raised his family and dedicated hours to restoring a 130-year-old Victorian house. In 2022, he moved to Little Egg Harbor, into what he proudly called his “dream home,” where he was thrilled to own his own “little piece of the Pines” and could often be found patrolling the property on his quad.

Richard devoted much of his professional life to education. After attending Ocean County College, he graduated from Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey). He taught sixth-grade Social Studies for the Toms River Regional School District, first at Pine Beach Elementary School and later at Toms River Intermediate South. Earlier in his career, he worked in education for the Somerset County Jail and the New Jersey Department of Corrections, Juvenile Services. He also worked for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and spent many summers serving as park security at Double Trouble State Park and Barnegat Light.

Creating and sharing music was Richard's greatest passion. A brilliant improvisational musician, he first mastered the acoustic and electric guitar and continued to challenge himself to learn new instruments. He taught himself bottleneck slide guitar while riding in the back of his parents’ pickup truck on a family trip to and from Colorado, and later picked up the sitar and lap steel guitar. He ultimately took on the formidable challenge of learning the pedal steel guitar, whose unmistakable twang defines the classic country sound. One of the most technically demanding instruments to play, it required the simultaneous coordination of foot pedals, knee levers, fingerpicking, and a steel bar. It became his signature instrument, most recently with 40 North Country. Over the years, he performed with Doctor Blues and the Fever, Dakota, the Lew Wright Band, Hank and the Trojans, and made frequent appearances with the Motts Creek Pickers and Josh Werner & Friends, among many others. As a solo performer under the stage name Richard Vitale, he embodied the great American crooners, sharing the timeless music of artists such as Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. His musical tastes were as broad as they were eclectic, spanning artists such as the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Hank Williams Sr., Johnny Winter, Muddy Waters, Oregon, and the Paul Winter Consort.

Richard was a true Renaissance man with a boundless curiosity. He was fascinated by the history and philosophy of ancient Greece and Rome and found inspiration in the writings of Alan Watts, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Kurt Vonnegut. Beyond music, he expressed his creativity through art, poetry, and even a novel of his own. Richard was charismatic and a natural comedian whose gift for conversation could captivate any room. Fiercely proud of his Italian-American heritage and Pine Barrens roots, he cherished gathering around good food with family and friends, where his stories often left everyone laughing until they cried. Forever young at heart, he once hitchhiked across the United States, loved riding his motorcycle, and was willing to tackle just about any repair. Among his favorite films was Jason and the Argonauts, and he never tired of watching the original The Outer Limits.

Above all, Richard was a devoted husband, father, brother, cousin, and friend. He will be profoundly missed by his family, as well as by the many friends, students, and fellow musicians whose lives he enriched through his extraordinary kindness, wit, and musical gifts.

Richard was predeceased by his parents, Richard Chinery Sr. and Mary Vitale Chinery.

He is survived by his beloved wife of 43 years, Sharon Underhill Chinery; his son, Richard C. Chinery and his husband, Celso Silva, of Philadelphia, PA; his daughter, Lauren V. Chinery, of Little Egg Harbor, NJ; his brother, Robert L. Chinery and his wife, Elizabeth P. Chinery, of East Greenbush, NY; and many cherished friends.

Visitation will be held on Friday, July 24, 2026, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., and again on Saturday, July 25, from 10:00 a.m. until the funeral service at 11:00 a.m., at Maxwell Funeral Home, 160 Mathistown Road, Little Egg Harbor, NJ 08087.

A Celebration of Life will follow at 1:00 p.m. at American Legion Mystic Island Post 493, 420 Radio Road, Little Egg Harbor, NJ 08087, where Richard performed many times with 40 North Country.

Those wishing to honor Richard's memory and his lifelong passions for music and education may contribute to TeachRock, the nonprofit founded by New Jersey’s Steven Van Zandt that uses music to inspire learning in K–12 classrooms. Floral tributes are also welcome.