Richard Simpson was born in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, the son of Warren Brown and Sue Simpson. His father and uncle constructed Raystown Lake, the largest lake entirely within Pennsylvania. He married Grace Metz in 1928, and they had two daughters, Susan and Barbara. She died in 1945, and he married Mae Cox in 1948; they had one daughter, Kay. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, in 1923 and from Georgetown Law School in Washington, D.C., in 1942. During the First World War, Simpson served as a private in the Three Hundred and First Company, Tank Corps. He was engaged in the insurance business from 1923 to 1937. He served in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives from 1935 to 1937.[1]