Rich Rebecky was a member of the Coastal International team for almost 30 years who passed away in February of 2020 after a long bout with cancer.
In the words of CEO, Bruce Green, wrote, “He was truly ‘one of a kind.’ Rich made Coastal, such a part of his life and his legacy will live on. The friendships, mentoring and dedication to the success of our company was unique and special.”
Rich Sotir, Coastal’s VP of operations in Chicago for the last 30 years, was very close to Rich and said, “I am not a man of a lot of words, but I am blessed to have met Rich 28 years ago, when I was hired to start work with our company. We were both about the same age, starting out with a young company, both with young families. We traveled more than we would have liked to, but we were excited and happy to have the opportunity to help this company grow.”
Mike Boone, Coastal’s Director of International Business, wrote about his treasured friend: “Rich Rebecky was a kind and decent man, with a softer voice, to calm the rest of us down…as he tried to be the voice of reason always. In our early days, rooming together in Vegas at CES or other shows, I was so impressed—he called his four kids back East every night to say goodnight. He will be missed by so many, as even our friends in other companies…. all keep asking me how he was doing? I never heard anyone say a negative thing about him. Ever. Few can state this about their lives. RIP Rich Rebecky, we will handle it from here! You carried us long enough. Thank you.”