Stuart Alan Rickey

1949 - 2022

Stuart Alan Rickey, 72, passed away at Centennial Hills Hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 28, 2022, after suffering sudden cardiac arrest at home the evening before. His wife M'Iva was at his side when he passed, as she had been for 44 years.

Friends of the family are invited to a celebration of Stu's life, on his birthday, June 28, 2022, at  Shelter #2, on Sandy Beach in Douglas, from 4 to 8 pm. It will be as informal as he was. Dress for the weather.

Stu was born in Seattle, Washington on June 28, 1949, the second of four children of Roy and Mary Jane (MacDougall) Rickey.

In 1954, when Roy was hired by the Alaska Territorial Department of Fish and Game, the family moved to Kodiak, Alaska, where Stu went to elementary school and played little league baseball. He was a tough kid, in the best sense, and wasn't afraid to play because he might get hit by a  pitch now and again. He and his sisters enjoyed living in Kodiak, especially during  the summers when they could travel to where their dad was working on salmon enhancement projects, such as at Pauls Lake on Afognak Island.

After moving to Juneau in 1961, the family settled into the house on Glacier Avenue which they owned for 50 years. Stu continued to play baseball, and went to high school at JDHS, where he lettered as an outstanding wrestler, served as president of his senior class, and graduated in 1967, Alaska's Centennial year.

He began his college education at Western Washington State College in Bellingham, and played on the school rugby team. In the early 70's he attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and earned a bachelor's degree in English Literature. Also during this period he married Roxanne Turner, but they later divorced. He taught English at JDHS in 1975.

Stu worked on the Trans Alaska Pipeline project, driving bus and oil truck. In 1977, he used some of his pipeline earnings and for several years was in partnership with friends Mike Race and Bill Stevenson as owners of the Billiken Bar in Douglas, where a (mostly) good time was had by all who came through its doors.


Stu worked many other jobs as a young man, including as a garbage man, park ranger, and on a crew erecting steel buildings; but the constant throughout his working life was the commercial fishing industry

Starting in the 1965 season, when he was 16, and over the next 15 years or so, Stu was usually on deck or in the skiff in the salmon seine fisheries, mostly in Southeast but also in the late 70's in Chignik. He also worked at the old cannery in Hawk Inlet, fished bait and sac roe herring, partnered to build a gill-netter for Bristol Bay, and was a fish buyer near Quinhagak in western Alaska.

In the mid 80's he started working with his dad at Rickey & Associates, helping fishermen meet the licensing and permitting requirements for federal and state fisheries. In 1988, he became sole owner of the business and ran it very successfully for over 25 years. He went the extra mile for his clients, and they appreciated and respected him for his work ethic and personal experience as a fisherman. They talked the same language.

Helping Stu in all his endeavors was his wife, M'Iva Henderson Rickey, who he began dating in 1978 and married on March 21, 1980 at the home of his sister and brother-in-law, Lisa Rickey and Don Kalk. (Danny Plotnick officiating and Louie Pusich on hand to give the bride away). Stu and M'Iva lived in Douglas for over 35 years, with their last home on 5th Street, and the beautiful views of Sandy Beach and the mountains across Gastineau Channel.

Stu lived and played hard most of his life. He was known to "crack a pack of Bicycles" and loved a good game of poker or pitch, which he played without mercy, and was a regular at the Juneau wild game feeds. He enjoyed hunting with his old pals at Mud Bay, and duck hunting and halibut fishing off Newt Cutler's boat "Gadget." Later on, he set pots for King and Dungeness crab every chance he got. He was a crab master.

Stu and M'Iva moved from Douglas to Las Vegas in 2017, and bought a house on a golf course next to his brother Doug and sister-in-law Alison Elgee. He loved having his morning coffee on the patio and watching the hackers tee it up. He also made regular forays to the area casinos, firing and falling back, with the occasional victory keeping him in the fight. Stu lived life on his own terms, which included loyalty, honesty, and generosity in his dealings with others. He could enter his house justified.

Stu is missed terribly by those he left behind: wife M'Iva Henderson Rickey of Las Vegas ; sisters Allison Fargnoli (Jack) and Lisa Rickey, of Juneau; brother Doug Rickey (Alison Elgee) of Las Vegas; nephews Nick Fargnoli (Arielle) of Douglas, Tony and Andy Kalk of Juneau and their father Don Kalk (Mary) of Excursion Inlet; nephew James Elgee (Leah Wilson) of Portland, Oregon; and his beloved aunt Margaret Smith (Joan Hett) of Poulsbo, Washington; as well as numerous cousins and good friends he made over the years.