The man who fixes everything
Four decades of Richard Epting's care and craft in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Before most people grab their first cup of coffee, Richard Epting has already solved three problems.
In the parking lot, Epting spots a loose bolt glinting on the pavement. He picks it up without breaking stride and slips it into his pocket, the first of many small fixes that will fill his day. Stepping inside a building, his eyes immediately catch a sagging patch of plaster in the ceiling. Before he has even reached the main shop, he has mentally worked out the repair.
By lunchtime, he has answered a dozen questions from students and faculty, helped troubleshoot a stubborn piece of equipment and coordinated a safety inspection. It is the kind of morning that would exhaust most people, yet for Epting, it is just the start of another day.
For 40 years, this has been Epting’s rhythm in the Texas A&M Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering: spot the problem, find the solution, get it done.
A career built on solutions
Around the department, among friends and even at home, people don’t Google something; they “roogle,” or “ask Richard” instead, since he’s more than likely to know the answer.
“Roogling” is a means to finding a fix for anything, no matter how complicated or obscure the problem. Students rely on it. Faculty count on it. Even at home, Epting said neighbors and relatives call when something breaks or needs to be built.
That can-do-will-do mindset traces back to his roots. A welder and machinist by trade, Epting grew up in a family of craftsmen who built things to last. As a boy, he learned the value of precision from his father, who expected every cut, weld and joint to be right the first time.
“That’s where I learned that if you’re going to do something, you do it well,” he said. “There’s no halfway in my family.”
Outside of campus, that same mindset still shows up in his personal life and hobbies. In his at-home workshop, it manifests in forging custom Damascus steel knives and one-of-a-kind leather sheaths, skills that earned him a spot in the finals of History Channel’s Forged in Fire. It drives him to rewire that faulty electric outlet, bake fresh sourdough bread, build beekeeping frames, tune his bass guitar, hang out with his five kids and ride his Harley.
The projects change. The mindset never does.
When asked if there’s anything he can’t do, Epting smiled and shook his head. “No,” he said. “Because I’ll always figure out a way to do it.” There was no arrogance in his tone, just the confidence of someone who has spent a lifetime solving problems.
From tractors to high tech
When Epting joined the department in 1985, the focus was heavily on agricultural machinery. He fabricated parts for tractors, combines and cotton gins. As research and technology evolved, so did his role.
Today, he builds specialized tools for drones that collect air samples in almond orchards, cold plasma systems that neutralize bacteria on produce, and custom fixtures for equipment that does not exist anywhere else.
“I was hired to get stuff done,” Epting said. “That has not changed.”
Richard to the rescue
Epting’s days rarely go as planned. One phone call can pull him from a routine repair in the shop to an urgent problem on the other side of campus. Although his job may be in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, people from across Texas A&M know he is the person to call when something needs fixing, troubleshooting or figuring out.
He still remembers the morning in February 2021 when the historic Texas freeze ruptured pipes in the Cater-Mattil, Hobgood and Kleberg buildings. Water poured from ceiling fixtures over MRI machines and research freezers.
“It was like a waterfall coming through the lights,” he said.
He arrived before sunrise, shut down power to protect equipment, called in emergency crews and began moving materials to safer locations. For 41 consecutive days, he came in before dawn to make sure freezers maintained minus-80 degrees, ensuring millions of dollars in research stayed viable.
“If something happens at 2 in the morning, I am on call,” he said. “You just do what needs to be done.”
But not every problem is high stakes. Once, a professor called to say his refrigerator had quit working. Epting walked over, glanced behind it and plugged it in. “Fixed,” he said with a laugh. “Sometimes I get the big emergencies, sometimes I just plug things in.”
Repairman turned recruiter
Beyond repairs, Epting has become one of the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering’s most passionate ambassadors. He leads tours for prospective students, pointing out how biological and agricultural engineering blends classroom learning with hands-on experience.
He proudly notes how 35% of students today are women, a number that has grown drastically since he started.
Former students now working at companies like John Deere still reach out, sending photos of new homes, job promotions and milestones, often with “thank you” for being part of their journey.
“Seeing them succeed, knowing I had a small part in that, that’s what keeps me going,” he said.
Shoes that can’t be filled
In his four decades, Epting has seen technologies change and colleagues come and go. But he stays, not because he has to, but because he chooses to.
His can-do mindset has earned him some of the highest honors in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He received the department’s Staff Excellence Award in 2016, the Dean’s Outstanding Achievement Award in 2018, and the Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence for Technical and Programmatic Staff in 2019.
Each award came without much fanfare. He just kept working.
When the time comes to write the job description to replace him, it will be next to impossible, because the most important things Epting does are the ones no one asks him to do – the small fixes, the unseen care, the pride in a place he helped build and maintain.
And that will be his legacy. Not just the repairs or the equipment he built, but the mindset he brought to all of it: if you care enough to try, and if you are willing to show up and figure things out even when you don’t know the answer, you can solve just about anything.
