In April, Robert C. Richey resigned from his position as chief operating officer of American Plumbing & Mechanical Inc. and also walked away from the company he had built for 25 years. At the time of his departure, RCR Companies' revenue was approaching $120 million, but the financial condition of AMPAM, by all accounts, is in swift decline. The following story traces RCR from its humble beginnings through its meteoric rise and its roll up into AMPAM.
Roas and Jake Richey adopted a son, Bob, in 1951. They divorced a few years later and Roas, who took custody of Bob, remarried Ted Baker. They had a son, Tom, in 1954. The Baker family lived in Fullerton, Calif., before moving a few miles north to Yorba Linda.