Richard Jean L'Abbé (born 1956 or 1957) is a Canadian engineer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist noted for his contributions to protective equipment used in bomb disposal applications. He is co-founder and former CEO of Med-Eng Systems Inc, a company specializing in bomb disposal suits and helmets.
L'Abbé is a graduate of the University of Ottawa with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, where the Makerspace facility bears his name. In June 2020, L'Abbé was awarded the US Navy Distinguished Public Service Award, and in 2023, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.
Richard Jean L'Abbé was born in Ottawa, Ontario. His parents were François Xavier L'Abbé, a construction industry entrepreneur, and Lucile Berthe L'Abbé (née Turgeon). He was the youngest of six siblings, including four brothers and one sister. Growing up in Ottawa, he attended the former , where he participated in football, basketball, and track and field.
He continued his education at the University of Ottawa in Mechanical Engineering. Following his first year, Richard discovered flat-water sprint kayak racing and won a bronze medal in menâÂÂs K4 at the 1982 Canoe Kayak Canada Sprint National Championships.
L'Abbé began his professional career at Biokinetics and Associates, an Ottawa-based bioengineering consulting firm. He managed several projects including the design and prototyping of a bomb disposal helmet, as contracted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). In parallel, a bomb disposal suit was developed by Toronto based Safeco Manufacturing Ltd. Both suit and helmet were approved by the RCMP for production in 1981. On the heels of this prototype, Med-Eng Systems Inc. was founded.
Founded in March 1981, Med-Eng Systems manufactured and supplied bomb disposal helmets. L'Abbé travelled all over the world sharing RCMP test findings on protective systems at international conferences and meetings, with sales across 110 countries by 1999. The collaboration between Med-Eng and the RCMP led to insights into overpressure, fragmentation, blast-induced head acceleration, and heat. These findings added credibility to their products within the bomb disposal community.
In August 1986, L'Abbé conducted a live demonstration by wearing bomb disposal equipment during a controlled test explosion set off by 1kg of 75% Forcite Dynamite at a distance of 3m. He would repeat similar controlled tests an additional 18 times during his career, according to a 1998 article in People Magazine. L'Abbé personally conducted 19 explosive tests wearing bomb disposal gear to demonstrate its effectiveness.
In 1991, Med-Eng's long-time partner Safeco was sold to a Florida-based corporation and the competitive landscape started heating up. L'Abbé, now CEO of Med-Eng, began independently developing the EOD 7 bomb disposal suit, emphasizing improved comfort, flexibility, and protection. Subsequent models, the EOD-7B, EOD-8 in 1995 and 1999 respectively, and the EOD 9 in late 2002, continued this progression. In 2003, Med-Eng expanded into electronic countermeasure (ECM) systems for threat mitigation and convoy protection.
L'Abbé resigned as CEO on October 30, 2005 due to health complications associated with atrial fibrillation. In August 2007, Med-Eng Systems Inc. was sold to Allen Vanguard Corp. Med-Eng's EOD 9 bomb suit and helmet were featured in the 2008 Oscar winning film The Hurt Locker.
L'Abbé served on the board of the University of Ottawa, La Cité collégiale and the Ottawa Heart Institute.