Richard Lichtman (1931-2018) was a social theorist, philosopher, teacher, and writer. Based at the Wright Institute in Berkeley since the late 1970s, Lichtman spent many years studying and lecturing on Marxist theory. His book “The Production of Desire” was an effort to bring together the ideas of Marx and Freud. In “Dying in America,” Lichtman wrote about death and dying in the context of capitalist dynamics and ideology.