Rex Rish

COLUMBIA – Rex Rish, who lived his life to love, serve and honor his Lord, his wife, family, friends, neighbors, community, and his church went to Heaven on Wednesday, February 21, 2024 after being diagnosed with cancer on January 22, 2024. He was 71.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held at 3:00 p.m. Monday, February 26, 2024 in the Main Sanctuary at First Baptist Church of Columbia. The family invites friends and family to an Ice Cream Social following the service in Ellis Hall. Rex loved ice cream. A family burial will be held before the service at Bush River Memorial Gardens at 1:30 p.m. Monday.

Rex was born in Columbia, SC, and raised in West Columbia, SC. He was the son of the late Harold Rish and Edith Williams Rish. He was a graduate of Lexington High School and the University of South Carolina. In his early years, he worked alongside his family at Rish Florist on State Street in West Columbia and alongside his wife’s family at Sharpe’s Formal Wear. He later worked for Federated Mutual Insurance and Suburban Energy as a Loss Control Consultant, and Amazon Fulfillment Center CAE1 as a Safety and Environmental Specialist. He also served in a variety of audio and video production roles as a volunteer at First Baptist Church Columbia and a part-time team member at KitchenFish, a live production company.

Even though the Lord led him to a variety of career paths, Rex’s talent for and love of spreading joy through flowers never changed. He returned to his family business, Rish Florist, for a few years before joining the Amazon team. He continued to arrange flowers for the church, for weddings and showers, and decorate Christmas trees for family and friends every time the need arose. In January 2022, Rex retired from Amazon and joined Sylvia on staff at First Baptist Church, Columbia as an Audio-Video Technical Engineer.

Rex was an active member of First Baptist Church, serving as deacon, youth Sunday School teacher, choir member, and on numerous committees including the Television Team. He supervised the installation and training of all the audio and video equipment at First Baptist, and helped with the construction of the current Broadcast Media production suite. On Sunday mornings for the last 25 years, you could find Rex running sound for the television broadcast as Sylvia directed the broadcast.

Rex wore a lot of hats and was called by a lot of names in his lifetime. He was known as Rex, Honey, Dad, Total Package, Safe Guy, Mr. Roof, Flower Bob, Amazon Bob, Roku Rex, Rexster, Mr. Rex, and his most loved name was Daddy Rex (the name his grandchildren called him). Last Wednesday he heard a new name, Good and Faithful Servant, from his Lord and Savior.

Surviving are his wife, Sylvia Sharpe Rish; son, Steven Rish (Heather); daughters, Jennifer Barrineau (Brian) and Leslie Strunk (Kyle); grandchildren Zack Rish, Blythe and Brady Barrineau, and Ava and Caden Strunk; sister, Clarice Rish Richards (Donnie); brothers and sisters-in-law Woody and Kathy Sharpe, Terry and Susan Sharpe, and Robert and Carol Clement; sister-in-law Laurie Sightler Rish, along with many nieces and nephews, cousins, and extended family members that he all dearly loved. In addition to his parents, Rex was predeceased by his sister and brother-in-law, Steve and Novelle Rish Barnes and his brother, DeFoix Rish.

The family wishes to express love and gratitude to the FBC Staff, our church family, and all of the friends who have prayed and cared for all of us. We also appreciate the exceptional care provided by Dr. Fred Kudrik, Wade Bonner, and the staff at SC Oncology Associates; Michael Hillard and Amedisys Home Health Care; the staff at Prisma Baptist Parkridge; and Dr. Kayla Lafaver and her staff at Prisma Internal Medicine in Rex’s last month.

Memorials to honor Rex’s life of ministry may be made to First Baptist Church Statewide Television Ministry.

Greg Dunbar and the Dunbar Funeral Home staff, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family. Memories may be shared at www.dunbarfunerals.com.