Richard Phelan was born in 1934 In Kilmacow, Ireland, became Brother Peter in the La Salle Order in 1950 and went to Sabah in 1963. A teacher in various schools throughout his career in Sabah, and principal of St Martin's Secondary School in Tambunan during 1978-87, he had many sustained interests in the indigenous cultures. He was one of Sabah's resident authorities on a number of cultural subjects. He was given the 1980 Barwis-Holliday Award for Far Eastern Studies by the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland for his essay on the Bobohizan priesthood system in Sabah. He spent some 15 years at Tanjung Aru near Kota Kinabalu. then lived about 10 years in Tambunan and lived in the Nabawan area since 1990. He died in 2010.