At fourteen years old, Rick McCarthy ’74 sat alone on a bench overlooking the mountains, watching his parents’ car disappear down the road. His mother had been crying. His father had already begun the long journey back to Libya, where they were living at the time. Rick remembers wondering why she was the one in tears.

“I thought, I'm the one who’s been left here.”

Within months, everything had changed.

The American teenager who had arrived knowing almost nobody quickly found himself immersed in the unique rhythm of boarding school life. His roommate, Skip, made quite an introduction — grabbing him by the collar after Rick innocently called him by his given name instead of his nickname — but the two soon became friends. By Christmas, Rick no longer wanted to leave Switzerland for the holidays.

“It was the most amazing three years of my youth by far.”

More than fifty years later, Rick still speaks about LAS with the enthusiasm of someone who never really left it behind.

Learning to embrace the world

Growing up in a military family meant Rick was already accustomed to moving. By the time he arrived in Switzerland, he had lived in Japan, the Philippines, Germany, Hawaii, and several parts of the United States. Yet LAS introduced him to something different: a community where dozens of cultures lived side by side.

“There were Persians, students from Hong Kong, Turkey, all over Europe and America. You really learned not just to accept differences, but to embrace them and understand people’s stories.”

Those experiences have stayed with him throughout his life. Today, Rick and his wife, Susan, have visited more than 100 countries, a goal he first set for himself while still a student in Leysin. Together, they belong to the Travelers’ Century Club and continue to spend almost five months each year exploring the world.

For Rick, travel has never been about collecting destinations: “It's about understanding people.”

Finding purpose

Rick’s first business venture began in his room at Beau Réveil. He ran an unofficial late-night snack bar for hungry students. His business model, he jokes, was wonderfully simple: “I had zero food costs and zero marketing costs.” 

Each evening, he would smuggle bread and Swiss cheese from the dining hall and fire up a hot plate to make his famous grilled cheese sandwiches. For students looking for something different, he even stocked imported treats from the United States, selling everything from macaroni and cheese to Mexican tortillas at a premium.

“The marketing,” he laughs, “was just opening my door and waiting for people to smell the food cooking.”

Looking back, Rick sees the snack bar as his first taste of entrepreneurship. It was the beginning of a career that would see him build businesses, become a certified public accountant, and spend more than two decades coaching business leaders.

“My passion, my calling in life, is developing leaders.”

Today, he and Susan dedicate much of their time to leadership development and supporting ministries around the world. Every two years, they travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they work with young entrepreneurs, leadership programs, and married couples, helping to strengthen communities through practical guidance and encouragement.

Rick is equally candid about the less polished moments of his teenage years. An ill-advised attempt to shoplift cassette tapes in Montreux with his roommate landed the pair in serious trouble — an experience he still remembers with a mixture of embarrassment and humor. 

“When I was young and stupid, I was young and stupid,” he says. “That experience stayed with me. Even today, when I leave a shop, I still pat my pockets to make sure I haven't accidentally walked out with anything.”

Rather than dwelling on those moments, Rick sees them as reminders that people continue to grow throughout their lives.

“We weren't fully cooked yet.”

Memories that never fade

If you ask Rick about Leysin, the memories come quickly.

Producing the Saturday night dances. Serving as senior class president. Editing the school newspaper under the guidance of his teacher, Arthur, who helped spark a lifelong love of writing. Learning to make fondue. Traveling across Europe with friends.

Some memories have become almost legendary.

Rick was among the audience at the Montreux Casino in December 1971 when Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention were performing and a fire broke out, destroying the building — an event that later inspired Deep Purple’s famous song Smoke on the Water.

“I didn’t know at the time that I was watching history.”

Other memories are smaller but no less vivid. Returning to Leysin decades later, he was resting after a hike when the opening notes of Jethro Tull’s Aqualung drifted across the valley from the Leysin Rock Festival.

“It was like being transported straight back to being seventeen again.”

Friendships that endure

A decade after graduation, he organized a reunion in Vail, Colorado, complete with Swiss wines, fondue, raclette, paprika chips, and chocolates imported specially to recreate the atmosphere of Leysin.

“The friendships were very special.”

Those relationships continue to shape how he sees the world. Whether mentoring business leaders in California or working alongside communities in Africa, Rick traces much of his outlook back to the international friendships he formed as a teenager.

For someone who has traveled to more than one hundred countries, that view from the bench above Leysin remains one of the most significant journeys he ever made.

“It started with thinking I'd been left behind,” Rick reflects. “It ended with discovering a whole world.”