Well-traveled teacher

BY ELLEN GILLETTE

Herb Ricardo’s education hit a wall when he was 13. According to his teachers, he’d never use his brain for academics. Today, Dr. Ricardo teaches business at Indian River State College as well as at Czech University of Life Sciences in Europe.

Ricardo’s parents met at a New York hospital. His first-generation Cuban father was a doctor; his second-generation German mother was a medical technologist. Four years and two children later, the couple divorced, moving separately to Puerto Rico. Ricardo’s mother married an officer from Britain’s Royal Navy, who took his new family “back to the Motherland,” about 20 miles from London. 

“My sister and I loved it,” Ricardo said. “It was hard being the foreigners at first, but I spent a happy childhood there.”

Ricardo’s first job was at age 11. “Here, they take grocery carts to cars and back, but in England, they’d take them home. My friend and I went through town collecting carts, snaking them through the streets.” 

Britain’s education system was undergoing a modernization process that included “streaming,” which meant separation by potential: students with A averages were taught together and so on, down to the lowest group of D students. 

Affected by his parents’ divorce and the move to England, Ricardo began to slip in school. When his mother learned that he’d be in the D group, she told Ricardo, “‘You can do whatever you want to.’ But it was hard to fight the system.”

School expectations were so low, Ricardo was allowed to take occasional days off. “I ended up taking weeks off, working with a London photographer as his assistant.” The photographer encouraged Ricardo to stick with school until he sat for exams at 16 — the British equivalent of high school graduation.

After that, Ricardo and his sister visited their father in Florida — Ricardo stayed. Registering at then-Indian River Community College, Ricardo barely knew his father. The relationship was strained to the point that he moved out. “This is part of ‘decades ago versus today.’ At 16, on minimum wage, I was able to work full-time, buy a car, pay rent and insurance.”

BACK TO SCHOOL

Just before earning his associate’s degree, Ricardo received a letter from the registrar’s office. There was no evidence of his high school diploma. “I was about to graduate from college, but I had to get my GED first.”

Ricardo worked in healthcare as a psych tech while attending Barry University and was eventually recruited by a new psychiatric hospital in Port St. Lucie. Bachelor’s degree in hand, Ricardo wanted to continue in healthcare but didn’t know whether to follow a clinical track or go into administration. He interviewed everyone at the hospital — from nurses to the CEO — asking what they liked about their jobs and what they didn’t.

“When I spoke with the CEO, he talked about solving problems. I loved that idea.”

Ricardo was hired as clinic manager for the St. Lucie County Health Department, where he started support groups for HIV/AIDS patients. “There was bad stigma then.”

Although Ricardo had sworn never to step foot in an institution of higher learning again, his guidance counselor at Barry had other plans. “Sister Loeffler signed me up for graduate school and told me that I had to go. Being Catholic, I didn’t want to let her down. You can’t say no to a nun.”

Obtaining a master’s degree, Ricardo served as director of human resources at a Tequesta children’s psychiatric hospital before starting a business: a day care program for mentally and physically handicapped adults that he eventually sold to Advocates for the Rights of the Challenged.

Ricardo’s last job in the healthcare field was as regional CEO for Fresenius Dialysis. It was there that a nursing student doing her clinical rotation mentioned that, because he was good at explaining things, he should look into a vacancy at IRCC. 

Beginning a 25-year teaching career, Ricardo decided to pursue a PhD. “This was near the beginning of online programs,” he said. “Just as I was completing it, Florida told community colleges that if they wanted to transition into state colleges, they’d have to have so many professors with doctorates. We met the threshold and IRCC became IRSC.”

By that time, Ricardo’s father had passed away. “We didn’t know each other when I moved here but when I went into healthcare, we could talk about those issues instead of father-and-son issues. Understanding one another from a professional perspective brought us closer together.”

Single, with a good job and summers off, Ricardo picked cities around the world to visit. “I’d immerse myself for two weeks, walk around, take photos, talk to people.” The trips also provided a global perspective for his business classes.

CZECH CONNECTION

In 2011, Ricardo traveled to the Czech Republic. “Every morning I’d go for a run and the hotel’s bellhop would ask how my run had been.” The two talked about their backgrounds and studies, exchanging contact information.

Months later, Ricardo got an email from the Czech University of Life Sciences. “What are the probabilities that anything’s going to happen after an exchange of cards?”

Tracing the communication route back to the bellhop, Ricardo was invited to teach for a week. His class was so well-received that he continues to teach in Prague, twice yearly.

“It’s fantastic,” he said. “I have European students, Russian, Iraqi, Chinese. A lot of them want to leave the autocratic environments they’ll return to, but many want to find jobs there in order to change the environments. That’s one of the great things about being a professor: you’re surrounded by young minds. At this time of their lives, they’re probably the most optimistic they’ll ever be.”

Ricardo has written several books about the psychology of the workplace, as well as a light-hearted look at why we buy particular cars, entitled AutoNeurotica. He’s also written a play and has plans for a novel.

In 2022, Ricardo won regional and state awards from the Florida Small Business Development Center for his volunteer work with clients at IRSC. He advises individuals who want to start businesses to “Research, research, research. Who’s the competition? Do you have the necessary finances? Find individuals who’ve done this before. Seek help. Work it daily — which is different than working at it. You have to be a step ahead, anticipating growth and downturns. Of course, we don’t know all the answers, but that’s one of the interesting things about starting a new business.”

In other words, avoid being short sighted — like the people who wrote Ricardo off when he was only 13.

---

HERBERT PHILIP RICARDO

Age: 59

Lives in: The Lakes in St. Lucie West

Occupation: Professor at Indian River State College, Pruitt Campus in Port St. Lucie

Family: mother and sister who live in Deland, Florida

Education: Bachelor of Liberal Studies from Barry University, Master of Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University, Doctorate in Business Management from Capella University

Hobbies: photography, travel, writing

Who inspires me: “My mother always believed in me, but my father and stepfathers weren’t always around. The fathers of my good friends treated me like their sons, gave me their time and guidance. Also, some of my past students, who went through adversity and made sacrifices.”

Something most people don’t know about me: “Through my mother’s brother, I have a French family in Le Mans.”