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In Memoriam: Houston Jeweler Rick Antona September 22, 2021 (0 comments)
Houston, TX—Ricardo "Rick" Valentine Antona Jr., owner of Uptown Diamond, died September 18. He was 54.
Born in New York City on July 19, 1967, Antona and his family moved to Houston when he was a child. He graduated from Klein High School in 1985 and went on to attend Texas Tech University, where he played football.
Antona started his jewelry career in 1992, after a chance encounter with legendary jewelry retailer Harry Gordon, Jr., the patriarch of Gordon’s Jewelers, a 300-store regional chain that’s now part of Signet. Antona’s first jewelry job was managing Harry Gordon Jewelers (as it was then known) on Post Oak Boulevard in Houston, Texas. Despite having no diamond jewelry experience, Antona dove headfirst into the business to learn as much as he could from Gordon, who passed away in 2002 at the age of 92.
Following his time at Harry Gordon Jewelers, Antona joined a major Houston diamond-cutting house and was one of its top diamond experts for over 20 years before branching out on his own and opening Uptown Diamond, a jewelry store and diamond cutting business in Houston's Tanglewood neighborhood.
Over the years, Antona built and maintained relationships with many top colleges and universities, as well as a number of major league professional sports teams. Uptown Diamond now designs and produces championship rings for University of Texas, Texas A&M, University of Houston, Rice University, Texas Christian University, and more, as well as the Houston Astros and Anschutz Entertainment Group (“AEG”).
Antona also authored a book, The Perfect Diamond Guide.
Antona is survived by his beloved wife of 28 years, Kerry Helm Antona, son Ryan Antona, daughter Olivia Antona, father Rick Antona, Sr., and sister Jennifer Oswald, in-laws Michael and Karen Helm, as well as numerous other family members.
Antona’s Christian faith was central to his life and in lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Second Baptist Church in Houston, where Antona was a longtime member and his children were educated.