Sidney E. Rich may have become a "shoe mogul," as he was tagged by Post-Dispatch society writers in the 1980s, but he had more modest goals in mind when he started out in the footwear business 20 years earlier.

"He was just trying to feed his family," said his son, Gary, of Creve Coeur. "He was a humble guy from humble beginnings who had more humility than anyone else I've known."

Mr. Rich died Friday (Oct. 30, 2009) at Missouri Baptist Medical Center of complications from Parkinson's disease. He was 85 and lived in Clayton.

At the peak of his career in the footwear importing business, Mr. Rich and his partners in Pagoda International Inc. brought 50 million pairs of shoes into the U.S. each year.

After graduating from Soldan High School, Mr. Rich served in the Army in World War II.

Then he began selling shoes, eventually opening up Sid's Family Shoe Store in Wood River. In the 1960s, he began importing and selling Japanese footwear, eventually founding Sidney Rich Associates Inc., which became Pagoda International, based in Maryland Heights, in 1971.

As Pagoda expanded, Mr. Rich began tapping undeveloped shoe import markets in the Far East, most notably Taiwan, said Gary Rich, now president of Brown Shoe Wholesale.

In the mid-1980s, Mr. Rich and his partners formed a joint venture with Brown Group Inc., and Brown acquired the majority stake in Pagoda in 1987. Mr. Rich stayed on as chairman emeritus of Pagoda until his retirement in 1989. That year he was awarded the T. Kenyon Holly Memorial Award given by the Two Ten Foundation to members of the footwear industry who have demonstrated outstanding humanitarianism. Mr. Rich was a noted philanthropist here, and in 1987 was given the Silver Crown Award by the St. Louis Rabbinical College.

Visitation will be at 1 p.m. Sunday at United Hebrew Congregation, 13788 Conway Road, Chesterfield, with the funeral there at 2 p.m.

In addition to his son, survivors include his wife, Audrey Rich of Clayton; a daughter, Patti Quicksilver of Baltimore; a brother, Melvin Rich of Chesterfield; six grandchildren; and two great-grandsons.

Memorial contributions may be made to a charity of the donor's choice.