William Russell "Rusty" Criminger, Jr.
William (Rusty) Criminger, on July 6, 2025, passed away peacefully with his family at his bedside. Rusty was 80 years old and has now been residing in Charleston, South Carolina for the past 13 years.
Rusty was the beloved husband to Sherry for 60 years and proud father to Jeff. He leaves behind two grandchildren that he loved dearly, Aidan Lasseter and Anna Grace Criminger both of Charleston South Carolina. He is also survived by two brothers John Criminger(Ande)of Atlanta, Georgia, Mark Criminger(Sherri) of Asheville NC, Sister Carol Grantham(Jim) of Highlands North Carolina, and several nieces and nephews and many. friends.
In pure Rusty style the first rodeo he ever saw, he rode in, and the first motocross race he ever saw, he raced. He was the first person to ever film the Grand Ole Opry. He was very involved in the start of the Country Music industry as the first Creative Director for WSM Television in Nashville. Rusty had such a zest for life and he did it all and loved to tell all about it. He lived life to the fullest and blessed anyone who would listen with stories of his adventures. He was a talented artist, writer, singer, and mentor. Rusty, was a man of many creative talents.
In 1978 Rusty began what became a long and successful career in the marketing and advertising world. Having achieved many great things for his clients while earning many awards in the advertising and marketing field. He worked in the television, radio and print media worlds for decades. Rusty was fortunate to be able to serve and collaborate with a large variety of clients from many industries all over the United States. He received great satisfaction from developing unique and dynamic marketing campaigns for many companies from start ups to major corporations.
Rusty was a fun, entertaining and giving person who enjoyed giving back to his community in any way he could. He was generous with his time most especially for civic affairs where he could lend his creative expertise in support of new civic endeavors. While there were many in which he participated, two of Rusty’s favorites were his involvement in the outsized goal to restore the Walnut Street Bridge to its original glory and his role in the creation of the Chattanooga Downtown Alliance in 1985. This was an organization launched by Rusty and a number of other dedicated downtown business people, who were committed to the revitalization of downtown in an effort to begin to animate and market downtown to Chattanoogans throughout the region. Rusty offered his time to many other organizations throughout his career as well.
Rusty‘s warmth and wisdom will be greatly missed by all who knew him.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Aug. 23, at 11 a.m. at Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church, with visitation following the service with the family.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to a charity of your choice.