Warren Richardson has been many things in his lifetime—machine operator, super stock car owner and driver, musician, farmer and businessman. But, to most people, he’s just Mr. Independence.

Richardson, who has lived in Independence, Kentucky, his entire life, began his career working in two different machine shops after high school. He was no star pupil; he graduated 105 out of 180 students.

“I had a nun in grade school who told my mother that I would come on later in life. That was the nicest way to put it,” Richardson says. “Not everyone knows what they’re going to be when they’re older. You can’t always judge a book when they get out of high school.”

Richardson didn’t immediately head to college after graduation, but he managed to find his own success. As a hobby, he raced super stock drag cars for 10 years in competitions all across the country and once set a national record with his car, earning recognition from the International Hot Rod Association.

He chose to end his racing career in late 1979, hanging up his helmet and selling his title-winning car to an out-of-state doctor, the funds for which he used to pay off his home that he built in 1975 and to buy a farm in his hometown of Independence. His love for cars didn’t end with his career, though, and Richardson continued to invest in cars, building a collection that includes a ’57 Chevrolet Bel Air, a Real 69Z-28 Camaro, a ’73 Plymouth Duster and a ’94 Olds Convertible. In his spare time, he enjoys repairing stainless steel trim on old cars.

As land and foreclosed homes became available in Kenton County, Richardson bought additional properties as rental investments. Real estate continued to be a driving passion and income stream for him, but as he got older he noticed his interests beginning to shift, and he knew it was time to pursue higher education so he could grow his career.

“I always tell people this: If you drop out of high school, you’re in a box with one door. You have a very little door to get out of. If you graduate, you have two more doors,” he says. “The higher your education level, the more doors you have.”

Richardson, who considers himself a late bloomer, attended several different universities, both in and out of state, for short periods early in his life. Finally, he opened a new door by enrolling at Northern Kentucky University. He received his bachelor’s degree in finance in 1989 when he was 39 years old and finished his Master of Business Administration degree in 1993 while in his early 40s. He developed a business acumen that he used growing and selling tobacco (sometimes up to 70 acres) and hay (usually 100 acres) on his farmland along with his 42 years of experience as a real estate landlord.

Richardson never planned to go into finance, but it came easily to him, he says, and he had always been interested in the stock market, money market funds, annuities and certificates of deposit. So when it came time to make the smartest decision he ever made—helping start a bank with his mentor and well-known northern Kentucky businessman R.C. Durr—his background and education (along with some encouragement from Durr) helped him choose wisely.

“I knew [R.C.] my whole life. I always looked up to him. He came up to me out of the blue and told me we were going to start a bank,” Richardson says. “I said, ‘R.C., I don’t have that kind of money. I’m just a peanut.’” But Durr was determined to have his friend invest in the bank along with Biz Cain, Bob Zapp, Will Ziegler, Herb Works, Barry Kienzle and numerous others.

“It takes a lot of peanuts to make peanut butter,” Durr told him.

The Bank of Boone County began in a tiny trailer off Burlington Pike in Florence, Kentucky, with a starting capital of $7 million dollars, and Richardson remembers his first dividend: six cents per share. But the little bank grew, expanding to become the Bank of Kentucky in 1995 and earning the title of northern Kentucky’s biggest banking institution—within 25 years of its founding, the Bank of Kentucky had 33 branches. It was acquired by BB&T in 2015 for $360 million. However, Richardson didn’t sell his shares of stock and instead transferred it into BB&T shares—now with a dividend of 40 cents per share per quarter.

“If your heart is in finance, it will lead you in the right direction,” he says. “I would not be where I am without my education. My background told me how the market works. I knew how to put the numbers together. Without that background, you can’t figure that stuff out easily.”

If there’s anything more important to Richardson than education, it’s the power of giving. He has helped friends, neighbors and strangers through several random acts of kindness over the years: helping tenants who can't always pay their rent, paying a large vet bill, paying taxes so a friend could keep his farm, donating 2,000 bales of hay to southeastern farmers during a heat wave and paying off a large credit card bill for a struggling friend. He regularly donates to St. Cecilia Catholic Church and School, where he attended grade school, so future students can benefit from the Catholic education he experienced.

But his greatest act of philanthropy hearkens back to his agricultural roots. Durr helped launch the Kenton County Fair’s Sale of Champions (now the Kenton County 4H Livestock Show and) for students in 4-H and Future Farmers of America. The program teaches young children to care for and market their animals such as hogs and steers. Kids show off their animals, and if they win they can sell them at the fair, providing growth, knowledge and financial support for their college education. And, when a kid does decide to sell, it’s Richardson who buys their animals.

“R.C. once told me that those who can give, should,” Richardson says. “The more money you give away, the more money you'll make. I live by that every day.”