The Story Behind the ARTS
Around the age of fourteen, Andy Rice picked up his first paintbrush and began work as a painter. As a young boy he had always looked up to his father and like most kids, he wanted to be just like him. His dad and a friend decided to quit their desk jobs, risk it all, and start a painting company in the mid-'70s in Webster Groves. As Andy grew into a young man his parents had assumed after graduating from SLU high school he would want to pursue a degree from a four-year college. Andy, however, had a different vision. He knew his passion was in running a painting company. After a semester of college, he packed up and came home to begin learning as much as he could about paint, painting styles, driving trailers, using complex mathematical formulas to estimate bids, sharpening his communication skills with customers, scheduling, budgeting, managing projects, safety protocols, and being a valuable team member for the company. After working at the painting company for many years, he eventually had the opportunity to buy it in 2015. It was a big risk but this was his dream. As a business owner, his days were long and extremely busy with running the day-to-day operations. For Andy, owning the painting company was never just about painting. It was about providing a service to the community and keeping dozens of his team members working at the best wages in town. One of Andy's biggest challenges, however, was trying to find enough men and women to hire that were highly qualified painters, with sharp communication skills, and a solid understanding of the importance of the trades for our greater economy. This STRUGGLE is REAL in ALL of the trades currently.
In Andy's 44 years of life, he excelled at being a loving husband and dad, a musician, a golfer, a friend, a business owner, and a painter. Sadly, in March of 2021, Andy's five-month battle with pancreatic cancer came to end. As part of Andy's legacy, his family decided to start a scholarship fund to help promote trade education for students who are interested. Our goal is to support the trades just as Andy did his entire life.
