Rizk was a prolific writer with a weekly column appearing in Al-Ahram newspaper where he founded and headed the History Studies Centre.

After his retirement as chief of Azbakeya police force, his grandfather bought a farm in Kafr El-Sheikh, where Rizk used to spend all his summers with his cousins.

Orphaned at six, when his father died after a brief illness and was shortly followed by his grandfather, Rizk had to endure a strict discipline imposed by his mother, who was left on her own to take care of the family.

Rizk progressed into his academic career until he became a professor of Modern History at Ain Shams University in 1979.

Rizk prepared the historical chapters in the legal documentation, which played a significant role in the international arbitration process in 1988.