Richard P. "Dick" Bly '58 is a native of the Shenandoah Valley where he grew up on a farm in Strasburg. He attended the Dayton campus for two years and finished his schooling at Madison College (now James Madison University) in 1960 with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry and education. While at Shenandoah, he was known as the big guy on campus and was a very good basketball player. Bly had a long career in the federal government. He began as an inspector with the Food & Drug Administration. In 1966, he transferred to the newly created Bureau of Drug Abuse Control as a special agent. Bly retired in July of 1998 after 38 years of federal drug law enforcement experience. His last position was with the Drug Enforcement Administration as a deputy assistant administrator for intelligence. One of his assignments took him to a cocaine lab in the jungles of Colombia. His team was able to pinpoint exactly where the lab was located and completed one of the biggest drug busts of the time, known as Tranquilandia. Bly received many awards throughout his career, but the one he cherishes the most was the CIA Agency Seal Medallion. An excerpt reads: "Mr. Bly has long been a strong partner of the CIA in combating the grave national security threats posed by drug trafficking organizations. Mr. Bly's integrity, dedication and unwavering spirit of interagency cooperation and visionary outlook have earned him deserved recognition from his colleagues throughout the U.S. Government, reflecting credit upon himself, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Drug Enforcement Administration."

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