Katrina's Lives Lost:	Hugh Alvin Ricks, 1939-2005
Submitted By: 		N.O.V.A November 2005
Source:			Times Picayune 10-28-2005

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Hugh Alvin Ricks was one of those people everyone knew even if they didn't
really know him. His designs for everything from early Jazzfest posters to
Zatarain's spice labels, from the White Pages cover dedicated to the
Aquarium of the Americas to the logos of the Hilton Hotel, were part of the
New Orleans artistic landscape for decades.

"If you mention my daddy to anyone," said his son Patrick Ricks, "they can
tell you at one time he was Mr. Art Deco of New Orleans."

And his artistry didn't end with his art.

"He was the consummate Renaissance man," said his son-in-law, U.S. Army Lt.
Col. William C. Radcliff. "He was accomplished on many different levels,
very well read, very erudite, soft-spoken and thoughtful."

Ricks grew up in the Iberville housing project and lied about his age to
enter the U.S. Marine Corps early. When his deception was discovered near
the end of boot camp, he was forced to wait a few months before he endured
the arduous training regime a second time. After his discharge from the
service, he studied design at Delgado Community College while working as a
security guard at NASA.

He applied his customary sense of dedication to his commercial art career,
working tirelessly on a steady stream of high-profile commissions from the
1960s onward: The Crescent City Classic poster, the Albuquerque Balloon
Festival poster, the Boston Marathon poster. He won so many design and art
awards over the years that he eventually stopped entering such
competitions.

"I woke up every single morning to Beethoven, Mozart, The Moody Blues, Pink
Floyd or Simon and Garfunkel, playing softly," said son Patrick, "and the
sound of an air compressor running an airbrush. I woke up to the smell of
turpentine."

Ricks married twice, having six children (Hugh Brion, Cynthia, Lorena,
Sean, Benjamin and Patrick) with wife Janice Schmit Ricks and another child
(Emma) with wife Laura Rizzo Ricks.

"He would sit with his pipe, wearing a straw hat, with his legs crossed
like a gentleman, sketching," said Patrick Ricks. "He touched this town in
a quiet way."

Ricks had recently completed an 8-foot portrait commission for Christian
Brothers Academy when digestive problems caused him to check into Lindy
Boggs Medical Center for gall bladder surgery. That was just days before
Katrina struck, plunging New Orleans, including the hospital where Ricks
was recovering, into chaos. Days later, after a harrowing, debilitating
evacuation, the artist died Sept. 16 in Fort Worth, Texas. He was 66.

"There's no doubt in my mind that if my dad hadn't gone through all he'd
been through," said son Patrick, "he'd be alive today."