Richard E. Pett earned degrees from Seton Hall University and Stevens Institute of Technology. He was a telecommunications systems supervisor for a corporation headquartered in New York City. He held management positions at various locations in New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Maryland. He now resides in Naples, Florida, with his wife, Helen, who is an Alzheimer's patient in a local health care facility. They have three married children, Gabrielle in Cincinnati, Ohio; Lisa in Nottingham, Maryland; and Richard James in Pasadena, Maryland.