| Biography/History: |
Raised on a farm in upstate New York, he was determined to become a physicist working in solid-state electronics. He couldn't afford MIT, ended up at an engineering school but didn't enjoy memorizing formulas and dropped out. He and his first wife came west to visit friends, ended up at Tolstoy Farms (near Davenport, WA) and helped start what is now the oldest nonreligious intentional community in the country. He was co-publisher/editor, with Ormond Otvos, of the "Spokane Natural" underground newspaper, published from 1967 to 1970. He began selling jewelry at state fairs in 1965, worked for a photo lab, then founded Rings & Things in Second City mall in downtown Spokane in 1972; it became a wholesale business in 2000 and was among the first wholesale bead merchants to offer Internet sales. By June 2014, Rings & Things imported merchandise from 16 countries and served thousands of buyers around the world from his warehouse and showroom at 304 E. Second Ave. Annual sales approached $10 million prior to the recession. He led recycling efforts at Spokane events for decades, including ArtFest, and in 2012 was inducted into the Washington State Recycling Association’s Recycling Hall of Fame. Also in 2012, he received the inaugural Mike Chappell Spokane River Hero Award from the Center for Justice. Russ Nobbs died in June 2014, age 70. |