Richard Rizk

Richard Rizk, senior lawyer at Rizk Law, was born in Manhattan to young medical professionals. His father, a doctor who immigrated from Egypt, and his mother, a nurse from small-town Indiana, lived in a small Bronx apartment on a shoestring budget when they welcomed their baby boy. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be long after Richard’s birth that his family would be forced out of the country due to a lapse in his father’s visa. Unable to return to his father’s home country because the dictator had seized his family’s assets, they journeyed to the South American jungle. For the next few years, Richard’s parents operated a sparsely equipped medical clinic in Kwakwani, Guyana, until they could return to the United States years later. “…we left the urban jungle for the real jungle of Guyana where I learned to walk, swim and talk. I was stalked by a boa constrictor and swam with piranha in the local river. Whenever I face hard times, I think of obstacles my parents faced in those early days of my life.” – Richard Rizk Eventually the Rizk family would settle in northern Illinois. His father developed a successful medical practice which allowed the family to travel the world. Together, the family would explore Europe, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. However, tension began to build between Richard’s parents. During a trip to England in the 1970s parental tension peaked leading to his parents’ divorce. Meanwhile, in grade school, Richard faced relentless harassment from other children for stuttering. On one occasion, his third-grade teacher even singled him out as disabled because of his speech impediment. From that time on, Richard took speech therapy sessions after school while the other kids played outside. By the time he reached his teens, the stutter had disappeared.