By PATRICK CASSIDY
STAFF WRITER
SOUTH YARMOUTH - Friends are mourning Richard E. Thompson, 65, who died after being struck by a car on Route 28 Saturday night.

Thompson had been trying to stop traffic to allow a tour bus to back onto Route 28 in South Yarmouth when he was hit by an eastbound car, police said.

Thompson was well-known on Cape Cod as a tour bus guide and the former owner of a Harwich tour bus company.

''Everybody loved him in the industry,'' colleague Elizabeth ''Betsy'' Antonellis of Yarmouthport said yesterday. ''You couldn't ask for anyone better.''

At around 9 p.m. Saturday Thompson tried to stop traffic so a bus could back onto Route 28 from the parking lot of Christopher's Steakhouse, according to police.

A Dennisport man driving a 1989 Nissan Maxima east on the busy roadway told police he did not see Thompson before his car struck him.

Thompson was pronounced dead at Cape Cod Hospital.

The former West Yarmouth resident's co-workers said he was a consummate professional and was working for Tour Trends Ltd. of Plymouth when he was killed.

He was a contracted tour guide and tour director with the company since 1998, according to Gail Arndt, a partner with Tour Trends.

''He drove a bus as well,'' Arndt said. ''He was very familiar with motor coaches.''

That familiarity didn't help Thompson on Saturday's nearly moonless night.

For his fellow tour guides it's a hard lesson learned.

''I just can't believe he's dead,'' said Ann Aboody, the founder of the Cape and Islands Tour Guide Association. ''I did the same thing two weeks ago.''

Local tour guides would think twice about dodging traffic to direct tour buses from now on, Antonellis said.

''We're really a small family of tour operators on Cape Cod,'' said Dede Kiely of the Cape Cod Central Railroad, a former tour guide. ''When we lose one of our own it's a real shock.''

Kiely said Thompson probably had just finished dinner with his tour group, many of whom would have become close to him.

''They were probably enjoying his sense of humor,'' she said.

Before Tour Trends, Thompson worked for TOURCO, a Maine tour company originally based on Cape Cod.

Earlier in his life Thompson was a priest, according to his friends.

After leaving West Yarmouth, Thompson moved to Boston and spent his winters in Florida, his friends said.

Thompson had told Aboody he was thinking about buying a winter house in Brazil.

In a statement yesterday police asked anyone who may have witnessed the accident to call Yarmouth police Detective Russell Giammarco at 508-775-0445, ext. 129.

No charges have been filed, and the accident is under investigation.

Patrick Cassidy can be reached at pcassidy@capecodonline.com.

(Published: September 26, 2006)