Father Richard Weber was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan, February 19, 1926, the son of Theodore S. Weber and Laura M. Kress. His primary education was at St. Thomas School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and at St. John School and Roosevelt School in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He attended high school at St. Columban High School Seminary, Silver Creek, New York, and for a time entertained the possibility of joining the St.Columban Foreign Missionary Society. In March 1945, he was inducted into the U.S. Army and served until December 1946, at which time he was honorably discharged. From 1947 until 1956 he attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, obtaining a bachelor's degree in 1951 and a master's degree in history in 1952. He immediately began working on a doctorate in history.

In August 1956, he entered the Dominican Order at St. Peter Martyr Priory, Winona, Minnesota, and made his first profession there on September 16, 1957. For three years he pursued philosophical studies at the Dominican House of Studies, River Forest, Illinois, and made his solemn profession there on September 15, 1960. He was then sent to Aquinas Institute of Theology, Dubuque, Iowa, for theological studies where he obtained the Lectorate in Sacred Theology in 1964. It was there that Bishop George Biskup, Ordinary of Des Moines, Iowa, ordained him to the priesthood on April 15, 1963. Immediately following the completion of his theological studies Father Weber returned to the University of Michigan to finish his dissertation on Vincent of Beauvais, O.P., and obtain his doctoral degree in history.

In the fall of 1965, he began his teaching ministry in the Province at Aquinas Institute of Theology in Dubuque, Iowa. With the exception of the 1966-67 school year when he taught at the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, Illinois, he continued to teach church history at Dubuque until the school was relocated in the summer of 1981. During this time he served the Dominican community as Prior (1968-72) and was a visiting professor at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa (1970-71). For twenty-six years he served on the editorial staff of Spirituality Today (formerly Cross and Crown) and for the last thirteen of these years he was associate editor and book review editor for the publication. For nine years he was the gracious host and administrator of the "White House" (or "Grey House") at the Dominican Camp in Menominee, Michigan. He served as provincial representative to the Dominican Laity from 1979 until 1983, during which time he edited their publication Challenge. The brothers remember him for his homiletic ability, his subtle whit and his playfulness.

With the move of Aquinas Institute from Dubuque, Iowa, to St. Louis, Missouri, in July 1981, Father Weber took up a new ministry, that of Diocesan Preacher for the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan, although he continued to be a visiting professor of history at Aquinas Institute in its new location. His new ministry required him to be available for preaching, days of recollection, and continuing education programs for the Diocese. During this time, he also served as an associate pastor, first at Resurrection Church, Menominee, Michigan, and then at Sacred Heart Church, Munising, Michigan. His interest in the process for the beatification of Bishop Frederick Baraga, the first bishop of Marquette, led to his appointment for a time as Vice Postulator of the Cause. It was during this time that he suffered a heart attack, the harbinger of the disease which would result in his death.

In the fall of 1991, the Provincial asked Father Weber to assume a new ministry, that of chaplain to the Dominican Nuns at the Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament, Farmington Hills, Michigan. In June 1992, the progress of his heart disease required him to move to St. Pius V Priory, Chicago, IL, however, after successful bypass surgery he was able to return to the Monastery in July 1993. He ministered there until October 1995, when the effects of his heart disease made it impossible for him to continue. Desiring to remain in Michigan, the state which he loved, Father Weber was transferred to Angela Hospice in Livonia, Michigan, where he died on January 7, 1996. A funeral liturgy was celebrated at the Monastery in Farmington Hills, Michigan, on January 9, 1996, in the presence of his family and the Nuns whom he dearly loved. His body was then taken to St. Thomas Aquinas Priory, River Forest, Illinois, where a second funeral liturgy was celebrated on January 10, 1996. He was buried in the Dominican plot in All Saints Cemetery, Des Plaines, Illinois.