The possibility of being drafted in the Vietnam War loomed over him after graduation in 1964.

I was strictly trying to get my education and get that graduation certificate and get out and get moving.” … I didn’t have any dates in school, or very few at all. “I love Tennessee I love Knoxville,” he said. And I learned a lot being around him - watching him being taken advantage of by this, that and the other.”Īttending UT was an opportunity for Rice to build his own life. “His entire life and career was building buildings,” he said. He learned a lot from watching his father, a dedicated company man who didn't care so much about money, Rice said. “I would run around the mountain like you wouldn’t believe. He would mix mortar during the day to help build his dad’s dream home on top of the mountain. Growing up in Asheville, North Carolina, Rice could do only three things: hunt game for Sunday morning meals, play defensive end and build a house.īefore he made his way to the top, Rice climbed from his family’s home on the side of a mountain toward the peak carrying rocks. Keep scrolling for the original story documenting Rice's life, from 'mountain boy' to beach tan tycoon. Obit: Notorious Hawaiian Tropic founder and UT grad Ron Rice dies at 81 Rice, who died in his 12,000-square-foot beachfront home Thursday at age 81, became a multimillionaire by creating Hawaiian Tropic suntan oils and lotions, marketed through years of bikini pageants featuring Playboy models and Marla Maples, whom Rice would introduce to her future husband, Donald Trump. “I ended up getting in a different kind of oil business,” he said. But after graduation, the need for these products had declined.

Rice had been working as a chemistry teacher and was trained in college to find oil and uranium. Maybe he - even with his limited knowledge - could do better.

He saw floats, surfboards, umbrellas, and a beachgoer using a bottle of Coppertone.Ĭoppertone seemed to be the only product of its kind at the time, he said, and the stuff wasn’t all that great. Rice's life was filled with celebrity encounters, including the time he loaned his car to Burt Renyolds for 'The Cannonball Run.'Ī young Ron Rice sat in his lifeguard stand looking around the beach, wondering what more he could do with his life.Hawaiian Tropic was marketed by years of Miss Hawaiian Tropic bikini pageants.Rice created the first batch of Hawaiian Tropic suntan oil inside a trashcan in his garage.Before creating Hawaiian Tropic, Ron Rice was a student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Hawaiian tropic models