Richard S. Weeks (known as Rich) was born in Passaic, New Jersey on March 23, 1953. Upon graduating from high school, Rich began his career in the construction industry, working in the office of what was then known as Weeks Stevedoring Company in Elizabeth, New Jersey. While pursuing his college and graduate degrees (he earned a bachelors degree from Johns Hopkins University; a masters degree from the Nitze School of Advanced International studies; and an MBA from Harvard Business School), he worked for Weeks Stevedoring on a broad variety of jobs on the waterfront – from deckhand to stevedoring superintendent. After completing his MBA in 1977, Rich joined Weeks Stevedoring full-time. Over the succeeding thirty years, Weeks Stevedoring, Inc., subsequently renamed Weeks Marine, Inc., has grown to become the largest marine contractor in the United States. Rich and his wife, Candace, have three children, Alexandra, Katherine and Richard Matthew, and live in New Vernon, New Jersey, where he is active in the Presbyterian Church of New Vernon, having served as an elder on session.