Richard “Rick” Meyer III was born in Savannah on September 13, 1946, the son of Augusta Martin Carter Meyer and Richard Meyer, Jr. Frances Dudley was born in Greenville, South Carolina, on July 20, 1946, the daughter of Charles Bondurant Dudley and Rita O’Quinn Dudley.
Rick attended the Asheville School and the University of Georgia, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism in 1970, and an MBA in 1972. Frances attended the University of Georgia, where she graduated in 1968 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design. She married Rick Meyer III in 1968, and they had two children, Augusta Carter Meyer and Charles Heyward Meyer.
In 1979, Frances and Rick founded Frances Meyer, Inc., a manufacturing company they owned and operated for nineteen years. Frances ran the creative side of the operation, while Rick managed the business end.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Meyer were active in the Savannah community. Rick served on the Board of the Georgia Historical Society, having a lifelong fascination with history due to his having descended from South Carolina Landgraves Edmund Bellinger and Robert Gibbes, Dr. Henry Woodward (the first British colonist of South Carolina), Col. John “Tuscarora Jack” Barnwell, and Thomas Heyward Jr., a signer of the Declaration of Independence from South Carolina. He has also been active on the boards of Historic Savannah Foundation, Telfair Museums, Bethesda, the University of Georgia Press Advisory Council, and as a member of the Society of Colonial Wars, the Society of the Cincinnati, the Heyward Foundation, and the Madeira Club.
Frances was active in many Savannah organizations, serving on the boards of the Owens–Thomas House Committee, Chatham Commerce Club, Savannah Economic Development Authority, Nations Bank Advisory Board, Savannah-Chatham Historic Sites and Monuments Commission, Lucas Theatre Board, City Market Art Center, and Historic Savannah Foundation Licensing Committee. In 1985, she helped start the Women Business Owners of Savannah Group. Mrs. Meyer was also a member of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Georgia.
Frances died on June 29, 2004 at age 57, and is buried in Bonaventure Cemetery.
In 2004, Rick established the Frances D. and Richard Meyer III Fund at the Georgia Historical Society, ensuring in perpetuity that their shared commitment to history education will continue.