If the name Dick Marconi does not ring a bell, then his accomplishments surely will. Race car driver, humanitarian, artist, and the co-founder of a billion dollar nutrition business. Most would be satisfied in accomplishing one or two of Dick’s achievements-but not Dick. For as amazing as this list may be, you get a sense when talking to him that he is ready to do even more in order to make the world a better place in which to live.
Richard “Dick” Marconi was born in Gary, Indiana in 1934, one of four children. With an Italian-American father, and his grandparents from the cities of Ancona and San Benedetto del Tronto, Dick grew up hearing Italian around the house and enjoying big Sunday gatherings with his aunts, uncles, and cousins. Still today, he cherishes his Italian roots and travels yearly to Italy with his wife, Bo .
Growing up with two brothers and a baby sister, Dick has many fond memories: he recalls building a soap box derby car with his brothers, and having his brother, Ray, win the family’s first car, a 1951 Chevrolet. Dick also remembers how hard his father, John, worked. In the eleventh grade, Dick’s father dropped out of school and worked at a steel mill earning $7.50 a week “The harder you work, the luckier you get,” John would tell his children. Eventually, John’s hard work paid off as he eventually became general superintendent, managing thousands of employees.
Just like his father, Dick too wanted to become a success story. His mother also had a huge role in Dick’s upbringing. She fostered independence, and instilled in Dick the importance of being resilient. When Dick was just twelve, he was involved in a chemical bomb accident that left him completely blind in his left eye and sixty percent deaf in one ear. But this did not stop Dick. He later played varsity football as a quarterback in both highschool and college, and also won the Golden Glove Boxing Championship in Illinois.
In 1959, Dick took his ‘54 Chevy and headed to California with a brand new bride, a year old baby, and five hundred dollars in his pocket. As soon he set foot in the sun kissed state, Dick sent out a hundred letters he typed out on his Remington to different companies. Soon, he landed a sales position with a pharmaceutical giant. Not only was Dick a tremendous salesman, but he also possessed business skills and knew about medicine from his pre-med days in college. As he moved his way up the corporate ladder, a thought came to him: “Why do we wait until people get sick before we treat them?” Though this question would later pave the way for his vitamin and wellness company, back then, it was not well received in an industry that had based its success on its treatment of diseases. Dick was soon let go.
While he began work at another company, Dick met Mark Hughes, a troubled but brilliant seventeen year old, who despite his troubled past, was one of the most charismatic men Dick had ever met. Wanting to start his own business, Hughes came to Dick one day and said, “I want you to help me.” Dick agreed and with his help and guidance, together they would build what would later become Herbalife, a multi billion dollar vitamin and wellness company.
A very successful businessman, and with a beautiful wife, a grown son and daughter and five grandchildren, Dick had reached the pinnacle of success, and had brought his mother’s words into fruition. “Being second in anything,” she often said, “is being first in a long line of losers.” Dick was no loser. He went on to drive cars (at 60, he was the oldest race car driver at the Long Beach Grand Prix), and purchased and developed a large Tuscan inspired estate with an authorized replica of Michelangelo’s la Pietà, miles of lemon trees, and acres of land that house giraffes, zebras, and many other wild animals.
The estate is nestled overlooking the hills of San Juan Capistrano. There, he spends time managing his business, and painting in his studio. His abstract art is shown across the southland and even in Italy. He is accredited for the use of a new technique he developed called “Color Fusion” which involves the melding of many kinds of paints.
Although his painting is one of his greatest passions, it is his Museum Auto Marconi which is probably one of his greatest gifts to the world. His father often taught Dick that in life, one must “Learn, earn, and return.” (This would later become Dick’s mantra) The return came into the form of Dick’s donation of the land, building, and many millions of dollars worth of cars which includes Ferraris, Lamborghinis’ Muscle Cars and Race cars.
The Marconis have raised millions for local Orange and L.A.County Children’s Charities. Often seen walking around the museum, Dick inspires the children by giving advice in the same fashion as his parents once did with him. “If you want one of these,” he says, “you can have one or all. All you have to do is stay off drugs, have a dream, stay at school and work your butt off.”
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