Richardson was born in Jamaica, moved to Connecticut as a teenager, and studied for a semester at the University of Bridgeport. Professor Edward Geist, Richardson's adviser there, said Richardson wanted to return to Jamaica, where his mother still lives. "He thought international business was a particularly good goal for him," Geist told the Hartford Courant. "He really wanted to have some sort of impact." Richardson was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on March 20, 2007.