Ronald “Ray” Riepen was born June 2, 1936 in St. Joseph at the Methodist Hospital. Ray was born to be an entrepreneur, and very clearly understood the  world in which he lived at an early age. Ray was a voracious reader and intellectual with many academic accolades. Ray received an undergraduate business degree from KU, law degree and Masters’ degree in law from Harvard Law School, and a Masters Degree in Sociology from USC.

Ray was a counterculture businessman in the early 1960’s, who thought he could make a difference in the world and make it a better place. While studying at Harvard Law School, he saw an opportunity and opened the Boston Tea Party, a concert venue. It operated from 1967 to the end of 1970.  Within a short time he was a major factor in the Boston music scene, influencing the direction of rock and roll. Musical acts which played at The Boston Tea Party in the 60’s and early 70’s included Neil Young, The Who, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, the Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Mountain, Miles Davis, Chicago, The Allman Brothers, Jethro Tull, Santana, Joe Cocker, Traffic, B.B. King, Van Morrison, Rod Stewart and many more.

During his time in Boston, Ray sought to create the culture and bought WBCN-FM, a radio station which was the first station in the country to play albums instead of single songs. He also bought a newspaper, The Phoenix, a counterculture paper which was prominent during the turbulent times of the day.

In a time period where the times were a changin’, Ray sold his interest in the Tea Party, the Phoenix and WBCN in the 70’s. After that he moved to California, Missouri, Kansas and Nevada, founding 34 companies, and who knows, maybe a few more?