Editor's note: A celebration of life for Rich Schineller will take place on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023, at Ringling College of Art + Design's sound stages. The organizers encourage people to wear party attire, "as this will be a celebration." For more information, click here.

When public relations pro and man-about-town Richard Schineller Jr.—or "Rich," as everyone knew him—passed away at 63 from complications due to multiple myeloma last Wednesday, his loss reverberated throughout Sarasota, as evidenced by the outpouring of social media tributes from his friends and family.

The longtime managing director of Perception Management Inc., a strategic communications and business development firm that specialized in entertainment, arts and education, Schineller was perhaps best known professionally for his work with Ringling College of Art and Design, where he promoted the college's creative work and rubbed elbows with the celebrities who walked the school's hallways as part of its vibrant film program.

The oldest of five children and a father of three, Schineller was born in Westchester, New York, and worked in corporate media before moving to Sarasota. In addition to his public relations work, he was a talent behind the camera—capturing friends and family in a warm, generous light—and an activist who brought attention to environmental issues through projects like his Save Our Siesta Sand campaigns and to the dangers of human trafficking with his work with More Too Life.

With his bright blue eyes and easy smile, Schineller was also a heartthrob. Back in 2009, he was one of our "Magnificent Seven," a list of Sarasota's most eligible bachelors. "With his weathered good looks, wry smile and New York accent, he’s a dead ringer for TV chef and author Anthony Bourdain," we wrote.

Stories posted to social media from friends and family since his death show the breadth of his impact. One person called him a "rock star," "one of the smartest people I know" and the "epitome of a giving soul."

"I cannot help but be inspired by Rich to strive to be the kind of person that leaves this world making such a profoundly positive impact," wrote another.

Another person wrote, "Rich was a philanthropist in the most magical way. He shared his wealth with all of us by sharing his priceless knowledge, his time, his ideas, his talent, his friendship, his warmth and his love. That’s what Rich gave us. To all of us. To Sarasota. To anyone he came in contact with." Another individual called him "a friend, an instigator, a motivator, a hero, a dad, a son, a brother, a silver fox and an inspiration." And another said what many have felt: "It’s hard to imagine Sarasota without Rich Schineller."

His mother, Eileen Schineller, recalls how when Rich was a young teenager, he and his friends used to scale down the walls of their three-story New York home by tying a rope around the chimney. He taught himself to sew on the machine she kept in the laundry room and he laid twin mattresses on the stairs so he and his siblings could put on skis and ski down them. He also made rockets—a project that started as a craft, but quickly became bigger. "First, it started with a paper towel roll. Then people would gather because Rich was sending off a rocket," Eileen recalls. “It was never boring."

That ingenuity continued into adulthood. Schineller's best friend, realtor Tim Mitten, recalls the time he managed to drag a piano into the middle of Big Pass on Siesta Key to shoot a video in hopes of discouraging a nearby dredging project. To do it, he put the piano on two surfboards and tied them to a Jet Ski. "Who would do that?" Mitten says. "But this is the kind of stuff he came up with.”

"Rich said an interesting thing to me when facing the crisis that sounded its alarm just over a year ago," his sister, Diane Schineller Sulimirski, wrote in an email. "He said, 'I was thinking that we need a way to harness a person’s contents'—gesturing to his head—'like some sort of A.I. transfer.' It was a window into how his mind worked, even while his other systems were failing. My brother was generating thoughts and conversation on how to share the good stuff—the sum total of one’s knowing—for posterity."

Plans to celebrate Rich’s life are forthcoming. In lieu of flowers, tax-deductible contributions may be made in Rich’s name to More Too Life.