DR. RAPHAEL RICHARD PAYNE (1942–2023)

Raphael Richard Payne, Emeritus Professor of Biology at Biola University, in La Mirada, California, affectionately known as “Rafe” to his friends and colleagues and as “The Old Pirate” when referring to himself, died October 19, 2023, after an extended illness. He was born in May 1942 in Ogbomosho, Nigeria, to medical missionary parents working for the Sudan Interior Mission and received some of his early schooling at the Bingham Academy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The family later moved back to the United States, to Kennewick, Washington. He attended Northwest Christian High School in Spokane, graduating as valedictorian, and spending a year at Columbia Basin College in Pasco before transferring to Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. There, as a sophomore, he met Janet Misenhimer, who would eventually become his wife and life-long companion, known to friends and family as Jan. He and Jan had a son, Luke, who is now...