Rick Saunders

1948 - 2023

Dear, beloved Rick Saunders, co-founder of Select Wine Marketing (1978 to 2008), passed away on September the 26th, 2023 after a long illness. He will be remembered for his kind heart, great sense of humor, the love of wine and as a devoted Giants fan.

A celebration of his life will be held on April 20th, 2024 at Oracle Park in SF. We'll get the celebration started with a tailgate party before the SF Giants game that day. Tailgate begins at 11:00 in Parking Lot A, until the game starts at 1:05. Friends, please join us. Text Chris if you need more details (same as Rick's old number (707) only with a 5946 ending), otherwise for those who are more adventuresome, come on down and find us in Parking Lot A &/or find us near his old seats!

Rick was born February 11, 1948 in Lawton, Oklahoma to Martye (Marthella J. West) and CW3 Dennis Saunders. The Great Santini is sometimes the way Rick referred to his dad. Despite being from a military family, he lived most of his formative years in Lawton. He excelled both in high school and college. He was the lead trombone player at Eisenhower High and participated in ROTC. After he graduated from Cameron University, in just three years, he joined the army and went straight to Vietnam. After his tour in Vietnam, he served in the reserves, which landed him in SF. There he became a banker, but banking just wasn't his thing. When he visited Napa Valley, that was it, it was so beautiful! He moved from San Francisco to Napa Valley. There he fell in love with every aspect of the wine industry. His first jobs were driving trucks for wineries delivering wines all over the state of California, and moonlighted at the French Laundry for Sally Schmitt as a Maitre d' at night (before T.K). So many, now famous, wineries were just taking flight back in those early 70's days. He saw the need for a wine broker in Northern, CA and Select Wine Marketing was born. Each winery he represented was always a pleasure and delight. And every sales person (the SWIM team) that he worked with was golden. After he retired from Select Wine Marketing, he worked at Elyse Winery for a few years in the tasting room, which he loved.

Rick leaves behind his only sibling, the fantastic younger brother, David Saunders of Fort Worth and his wonderful wife Stephanie Saunders and their children, Joseph, Jill ( & Wayne Niemi), Ginger (& Brady Echols), Peter (& Julie and their daughter Evelyn). And lastly, but not least, he leaves behind his loving, devoted wife (Chris) Christina Saunders (Welling). He and she were quite a pair. He mumbled, and Chris has a quite low-toned voice; friends used to tease them that they lived in a perfect love bubble where they were the only ones who knew the language. Rick was her true love. She said he was the love-i-est, funniest, kindest, most charming man; our 20 years of marriage felt like it went by in less than a minute, we had so much fun! She wanted to include this quote from one of their favorite movies, A Princess Bride, "It was true love. Think this happens every day? Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while." He was just the best!