Hurricane products entrepreneur gives $4M to college

FORT MYERS — The Rist Family Foundation recently committed to a multiyear, $4 million donation to the Daveler & Kauanui School of Entrepreneurship at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers.  

The donation follows a $1 million gift in 2020 toward construction of the entrepreneurship school’s building, Lucas Hall, with a portion designated for the Newton Ethical Leadership Initiative to help expand ethics-based education. The foundation is the charitable arm from Brian Rist and his wife Kim. Brian Rist grew Fort Myers-based hurricane, storm and home protection business Storm Smart into a $73 million company over 25 years. Storm Smart reached record annual sales in 2020 before Rist sold a controlling interest in the business to a Maryland-based private equity firm.