In August 1995, he won the Democratic Nomination for Governor of Mississippi. In November of that year, after a strongly contested race, he lost to incumbent Republican Kirk Fordice. On January 8, 1996, after completing his third term as secretary of state of Mississippi, Molpus began a timberland investment management organization, The Molpus Woodlands Group, LLC. Dick Molpus and his wife, Sally, were the founders of Parents for Public Schools, which now has chapters in 18 cities in 13 states across the United States. That organization steadfastly supports local public schools and works with parents to ensure high standards for those schools. He is a former President of National Parents for Public Schools. He received from the H. Council Trenholm Memorial Award from the National Education Association in 2004 for his work on behalf of public schools. In 2005, he was honored as an inductee into the Mississippi Business Hall of Fame, and in 2008, he was honored as a Visionary Public Servant by the Mississippi Center of Justice at their annual Champions of Justice dinner. He was Co-Chairman of the successful 2006 Jackson Public School Bond Campaign that brought $150MM in renovations and new schools to Jackson. In addition, he serves as treasurer for the Board of Directors of the Harwood Institute, a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Bethesda, Maryland, that seeks to spark fundamental changes in American public life. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Southern Education Foundation, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. He recently became a member of the Board of Directors of MDC, located in Durham, North Carolina, which helps organizations and communities close the gaps that separate people from economic opportunity. He also serves as a board member of the New York City-based Andrew Goodman Foundation, which focuses on voting rights and justice issues. In 2007 he became the founding Chairman of the United States Endowment for Forestry and Communities, a $200MM endowment funded by the U.S./Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement. The endowment is focused on improving forest health and assisting timber-reliant communities in the U.S. Molpus is also a founding board member and executive committee of the National Alliance of Forest Landowners (NAFO), which is dedicated to protecting and enhancing the economic and environmental values of privately owned forests through policy advocacy at the national level. In 2013 he was inducted into the University of Mississippi Alumni Hall of Fame. On February 20, 2013, he was criticized by Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" for failing, as Mississippi Secretary of State in 1995, to file paperwork to make Mississippi the last state in America to ratify the 13th amendment which ended slavery.