Rich was born May 13, 1974 in Gainesville, Florida, while his parents were living on the University of Florida campus with his dad attending Law School. Rich is the middle child of Barbara and Richard Black, Sr., and has an older sister Michelle, four years his senior, and a younger brother Ron, seven years his junior. His dad was a colonel in the Army, and as a military brat, he quickly became a world traveller.

After Gainesville, Rich's journey took him first to Texas, then West Virginia, Germany, Missouri, California, Washington State, and finally Virginia. Some of his fondest memories are of living in the small village of Heltersberg, Germany when he was about 10 years old. Stationed in Kaiserslautern, the Black family opted to live off-base and instead immerse themselves in the friendly, German community. During their stay abroad, they travelled extensively throughout Europe, including a visit into East Germany, behind the Berlin Wall before it was torn down, as shown below.

Black Family Portrait
Kelly, Rich, Mom, Dad, Ron
Michelle, David, Matthew

The Berlin Wall, Germany
Michelle & Rich

Rich first discovered the beauty of northern California in the late 80's when his dad was stationed at Fort Ord and the family lived on the Presidio of Monterey. Attending the first two years of high school at Monterey High, Rich then finished up high school in Washington State before he was off to the University of Florida, where after four years, he would eventually meet Kelly. :-)

Together, upon graduating UF, Rich and Kelly headed out West and ended up settling down near Rich's old hometown on the Monterey Peninsula, in Carmel.

Not long after moving out West, Kelly and Rich's first financial-centric Web start-up was sold in August 1999. Rich made quite a splash in the financial media since then and below is a photo from a feature piece in the Jan/Feb 2000 issue of Bloomberg Magazine, accompanying a story about whisper numbers.

California Sunset
Rich, south of Carmel