Rich grew up in the countryside, in Scenery Hill, Pennsylvania. From the time he was a fifth grader until he went to college, he helped his mother clean offices in nearby Washington, Pennsylvania, including those of law firms. He helped make his way through college with part time work as a warehouseman — unloading tractor trailers and sweeping floors. Rich’s father was a coal miner for Beth Energy at the Mariana Mine until it caught fire and closed in the late 1980s, when he became an electrician. His maternal grandfather and his three great uncles spent their entire worklives at the Mariana Mine. Rich’s grandfather contracted black lung disease working there. At one point, Rich recalls having eight relatives working the mine. His paternal grandfather worked in a mill in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, which produced steel for bridges. Rich Ogrodowski graduated from Bentworth High School in Bentleyville, Pennsylvania, winning the Best All Around Male Athlete Award his senior year. He then earned his B.A., magna cum laude, from Westminster College in 1998, majoring in Economics and Political Science, followed by his law degree, cum laude, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 2001. Rich is also a graduate of the intensive National Trial Advocacy College held at the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville, Virginia.