'Renaissance man' Rick Shriver left indelible imprint on community

McCONNELSVILLE — Rick Shriver devoted a lifetime to giving back.

Whether it was serving as a Morgan County commissioner, teaching electronic media students at Ohio University Zanesville or playing music for fans throughout the area, the 1973 Morgan High School and 1977 Ohio University grad left an indelible imprint.

Now he is gone.

Shriver, 68, died following an extended battle with leukemia on July 15, leaving behind beloved wife Connie, sons Adam and Evan, their wives and four grandchildren.

Connie, who served as director of public relations at OUZ and later as director of adult education at Mid-East Career and Technology Center, called her husband one of the most intelligent people she has ever encountered.

She said he had an innate ability "to see things clearly, sort of the forest through trees and seeing big pictures, which let him connect the little dots."

Shriver led organizations, ran for Ohio Senate seat

That helped him in teaching and in his efforts serving as a president for seven different organizations in Morgan County, including the Morgan County Chamber of Commerce, past master of the Corinthian Masonic Lodge No. 111 and Morgan County Drug and Alcohol Council.

He ran for Ohio State Senate in 2008 following a four-year run as Morgan County commissioner.

"He was amazing at sort of taking things that seemed unrelated and finding commonality that resulted in solving problems, whether that meant his students or a construction project he was working on or in public office working to make it a better place," Connie said. "It didn’t matter, he could see things."

During COVID-19 treatment, doctors discovered other health issues

Shriver's death followed a difficult health struggle since contracting COVID-19 in 2020, which resulted in a 10-day hospital stay that nearly took his life.

It was there where his blood counts showed abnormalities that later revealed the rare form of leukemia. He attempted multiple treatment options, from stem cell therapy to a bone marrow transplant, which required a 100-day stay at the Cleveland Clinic not long past the new year.

"He got home and was doing well, then he started having weird things happen that were unexplainable," Adam said. "Then he had the brain bleed, which was probably the beginning of the end. That was tough on him.

"His body was just beaten down between the chemotherapy, and the brain aneurysm and the transplant," he added. "He was down to like 145 pounds. His body just couldn't take any more. It was just really hard to see."

Shriver continued looking to the future

Even during his sickness, he always had the next project in mind. The opening of the Willis Hill Winery, in the renovated barn his great-great-grandfather built in 1890 on Parmiter Road, was among his prized accomplishments.

"(Evan and I) bottled three cases with 50 bottles of wine on Father's Day with him," Adam said. "He didn't participate much because he wasn't feeling well, but he was still looking forward. It was a good memory."

Even after his sickness, Adam said his dad was always eyeing the next project. This remained even as hospice care brought him to be with family following a hematoma of the brain, which eventually led to his death.

"Even though he was diagnosed, and had been for 2½ years, he was convinced he was going to beat this," Adam said. "He didn't have a will or anything. We were trying to get him to help us make a decision."

Shriver was a renowned musician, something he developed during his teenage years with renowned Morgan County musician Junior Norman, while playing drums in barrooms, even before he was old enough to patronize. His mother, Dorothy, always accompanied him.

He later played in local bands, where he eventually settled on guitar. He played in several public performances with the likes of Matt Frampton and other local luminaries, with Adam most always serving as his drummer.

It was an example of his zest for life and love of music. He built his own recording studio from spare parts he accumulated, then used his production background to record his own music.

“I got to play music with my dad for 10 years, with him and his bands for a long time," Adam said. "Not a lot of people get that opportunity. You could see the respect he gets from people."

Shriver was professor emeritus at OUZ

Eclipsing his wide musical interests was a passion for educating and serving the community. He taught thousands of students in the electronic media and mass media programs at OUZ, from which he retired as professor emeritus, and provided a platform for many local broadcasting talents. Many graduated and advanced to radio and television stations.

Dan Weber, a Monroe County native, spent most of a decade in Zanesville after attending OUZ, where he was an electronic media major under Shriver in the late 1990s. The two immediately developed a kinship that remained well after his schooling ended.

Weber called Shriver “a renaissance man,” whose varied interests drew him to students of all types.

“His life was the very definition of the term,” Weber said. “Myself, coming to the big city of Zanesville from a small village in Southeastern Ohio, I had never met anyone quite like Rick. We had many of the same interests in life. The only difference, he took them further and did more with them than I ever could.

“I will always have a special appreciation and great fondness, not for just what he taught me as a professor, but how he lived his life," Weber added.

His life in education also took him on world travels to the likes of People’s Republic of China and Malaysia.

After retirement, Shriver tackled new challenges

He stayed quite busy following his teaching career.

He opened Morgan County’s first winery, Willis Hill Winery. That followed a stint as county commissioner and a run at 20th District State Senate in 2008. He wrote Op-ed pieces for the Times Recorder, covering a variety of topics in the "Opinion Shapers" series, and he regularly shared historical pieces and photos of Morgan County on his social media sites. He also had his own website, rickshriver.net, which he started during his Senate campaign.

His list of social media followers numbered well into the thousands, many of whom left messages following his death.

"It's still crazy to think," Adam said of his dad's death. "You still feel like nothing is real. I know why people feel that way now, because I have never been through that, especially when it's something you're not expecting."

In 2013, Shriver documented the famous Twin City Opera House, one of the oldest buildings in the region, and the infamous 1913 flood that saw the Muskingum River reach heights rarely seen.

And all of that may have paled in comparison to his storytelling, which was legendary to those who knew him best.

A public showing for Shriver will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Miller-Huck Funeral Home in McConnelsville. The funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Miller-Huck, with former State Congressman Zack Space officiating.

sblackbu@gannett.com; Twitter: @SamBlackburnTR

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: McConnelsville resident Rick Shriver remembered as 'a renaissance man'